


A Scientific Approach

by Fluffyboots



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Anal Fingering, Attempt at Humor, Awkward Flirting, Blow Jobs, Character's Name Spelled as Jaeger, Eren Is a Little Shit, Eren Yeager Is a Tease, Explicit Sexual Content, Fanart, Hand Jobs, Jean Is A Little Shit, Kissing, Levi is thirsty, M/M, Mad Scientists, Making Out, Mutual Pining, Nonbinary Hange Zoë, Pining, Scientists AU, Slow Burn, Smut, Swearing, a wild hange appears, bunch of nerds, canon age gap, eren is such a brat, lots of storming out, more awkward, poor levi, sassy eyebrows, shitty brats being shitty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-04-21 01:23:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 63,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14273904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluffyboots/pseuds/Fluffyboots
Summary: The Survey Corp’s Special Operations Lab has been tasked with finding a solution to mankinds’s greatest threat; the titans. When Wall Maria is breached, the pressure is on and all they have is a bunch of long-shots.What will happen when the new assistant gets involved with one of the scientists?Some smut, some laughs, and some semblance of a plot.FanartHere!





	1. An Opportunity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first SNK fic!  
> This is pretty much canon universe/era, same situation just a bit different. They some technology and shit, but it's rare and expensive. Eren and co. are 16 when the Titans attack Shiganshina, just cause I couldn't be bothered dealing with that kid shit. 
> 
> If you're just dropping by for some smut, it can currently be found in chapters 10 and 13.

Levi sat at his desk, reading a book that he had found abandoned in a manky old store room. His chin was propped up on one palm as silver irises lazily scanned across the text. _Fuck this is boring._ There was jack shit to do. He had already gone on a cleaning rampage, diligently wiping down every surface in sight and re-alphabetising his bookshelf. There was no reason to go to the lab today because his samples were _still_ waiting to be processed, that asshole Moblit sure loved to keep him waiting. He’s reading a fantasy story _,_ for fucks sake. And a crappy one at that – no wonder it was ditched where no unfortunate soul was likely to stumble across it. He had half a mind to toss it in the trash… but it was marginally better than going over his notes for the billionth time.

  
“Are you gonna eat that?”

  
Levi didn’t bother looking up from the horribly disappointing book and gave a short hum of acknowledgement. He wondered if the mental stimulation of reading was worth the death of his brain cells. The tingling sensation in his head was probably them self-terminating due to the word garbage he was currently looking at, or maybe it’s the start of yet another fucking headache courtesy of the resident lunatic.

  
“That biscuit…” Hange was practically drooling as they stared down at the little biscuit that sat teasingly on Levi’s desk. “Gonna eat it?” 

  
“No.”

  
Their body quivered in anticipation before they lunged forward to claim the tasty prize, only to be swatted away with a firm slap on the arm. “OW! Whaaat, but you said you didn’t want it!”

  
“I know” Levi made a mental note of where he was up to on to the page, not that he would be coming back to it, and brutally slamming the book down as punishment for being so god damn awful. He finally looked up to glare at them. “But I never said you could have it, shitty glasses”  
  
  
Hange let out an offended gasp and crouched on the floor to get on eye level with their objective. “But Levi… just look at that delicious little thing,” They licked their lips. “It’s begging me to eat it! You should really treat your food with more respect you know, or else it mi-”

  
They were cut off with as the door suddenly flew open, revealing a ghostly pale Captain America.

  
Levi’s sigh was painfully loud in the now silent room. This is exactly what he needs, another person barging in to his office uninvited, although he’s glad to cut that sorry excuse for a conversation short. Erwin can be amusing… occasionally. Levi’s bored grey eyes examined his superior, noticing his tightly set jaw and tense posture. _He looks fucking constipated._ A thin eyebrow quirked in mild curiosity. “Got something to say?”

  
Erwin closed his eyes and stood frozen. Levi was about to ask why the hell he was taking a nap in the middle of his doorway, when ferocious blue eyes snapped opened.  

  
“Wall Maria has been breached,”

  
Levi felt his muscles stiffen at the unexpected announcement. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  
“Information is still coming in,” Erwin breathed in deeply, preparing himself to drop the ‘ _we’re fucked_ ’ bomb on his team. “The reports say that the biggest titan we’ve ever seen showed up out of nowhere, peeked over the wall and kicked a massive hole straight through the front gate of Shiganshina. A second abnormal, covered in armour, then proceeded to use itself as a battering ram and destroyed the back gate. As you would expect, the death toll is incredibly high.”

  
“Peeked ove-” Hange gaped up at him from their position on the floor and made a string of incoherent chocking noises, overcome by the image of just how tall that titan must’ve been. “God… _damn._ ”

  
“Evacuations are currently in progress; all survivors will seek sanctuary behind Wall Rose. On top of the human casualties, we have also lost a great deal of farmland, resources, and living space. We won’t be able to accommodate the new population for long; drastic measures will need to be taken.”

  
Levi scowled, his eyes narrowing as they tracked down to stare at the forgotten biscuit.

  
  
_Fan-fucking-tastic._

* * *

    
By some incredible stroke of luck, the trio of teenagers had somehow managed to survive the depths of hell itself. Eren figured that the universe had owed them as much, considering how he had just watched everything he had ever known and loved being blown into oblivion. His throat tightened as he remembered his mother’s brutal death… her screams, her limp body, the sickening sound of her bones being snapped in half like a fucking toothpick. Now that is some _serious_ nightmare fuel. Under any other circumstances, it would have been a wise idea for him to seek out some sort of professional psychological help.

  
A few weeks have passed since that day. Eren isn’t sure how long exactly, the days start merging together when you’re sitting on your ass with nothing to do except scrounge around for food. Armin’s grandfather was fed to the titans with most of the other adult refugees two weeks ago, the three of them had just managed to wiggle out it by the skin of their teeth. It was painful for Eren to see his closest friend so overcome with grief, to watch him clutch his grandfather’s hat to his chest as he struggled to keep himself together.

_At least he didn’t have to watch_.

That thought provided him a small amount of solace. Eren understood the basic reasoning behind it, that there wasn’t nearly enough food to go around and the population needed to be thinned out if any of them wanted to survive… but surely there were nicer ways of going about a mass culling.

What about a nice clean shot to the back of the head? Fast, easy, painless.

But then again… that would require a lot of bullets, and they would be left with mountains of corpses to deal with.

_Details, details._

 

Eren had been dead-set on joining the military combat forces, only to have them deny him for being _“hot-headed”_ and a _“liability in the field”_. He went back of course, several times, but apparently the bastards just weren’t desperate enough yet. Mikasa wasn’t too broken up about it, she’s adamant in the fact the Eren would’ve just gotten himself killed or mutilated.

So here they were, snuggled up in some grimy street, too young for anyone to trust them with a proper job and too old to play the starving child card.

 

 

The sound of approaching footsteps pulled Eren’s attention away from his thoughts, emerald eyes blinked open as his head turned towards the sound.  

 

“Hey Armin.”

  
“Hey,” Armin said with a smile and plopped down next to him. His clothes were filthy and worn out, but it didn’t matter much since everyone around here looked like that. “I managed to get some bread. It isn’t much, but it’s better than nothing.”

  
“Thanks.” Eren managed a meek smile and grabbed the half-roll that was chucked his way. He was grateful for childhood friend and was sure that he would probably be lying dead in a gutter somewhere if it wasn’t for him. Eren doesn’t know where he keeps getting scraps of food from and he doesn’t want to.

  
“Sooo… I went to one of those recruitment stations today,” Armin tore a chunk off his bread and carefully balanced it on one of his knees. “They said they will probably be able to get us a job”

  
“Woah… really?” Eren was sceptical, everyone else had told them to piss off. The blonde’s guilty expression made his eyes narrow with suspicion… he had a bad feeling about this. “Doing what?”

  
“Ah… they said they were looking for help in some of those military laboratories,” His pale fingers picked at the edges of the bread curst. “Look… I know it’s not exactly what you had in mind, but they’re doing important stuff there, we might actually get a chance to be useful. Plus, there is almost no risk of death or serious injury.”

  
“… Almost?” Eren blinked, his mind wandering as he tried to imagine how someone could possibly get themselves killed in a place like that. He could probably find way - challenge accepted.  
_Damn it Eren, focus!_

“Wait, back up. Why would they want me somewhere like that? Everyone knows that you’re like a genius or something, but _me_?”

  
“Well, I told them your father is a doctor,” Eren nodded and Armin averted his gaze to examine the brick wall behind them. “And I may have… _implied_ that he taught you a bit about it”

  
Green eyes went wide with panic. “ARMIN! WHA-”

  
“Hey.”

  
“Shit!” Eren jumped to his feet and spun around to face the stealthy ninja that had somehow managed to sneak up behind him. “Stop doing that, Mikasa! You scared the crap out of me!”

  
Her eyes quickly flicked between the two of them. “What’s going on?”

  
“Oh nothing! Armin was just saying how he talked me up to some science guy, and now they’re expecting me to show up and work for them and not be completely clueless.” He looked back over his shoulder to glare into his friend’s fidgety eyes.

  
“Armin,” Mikasa targeted him with an icy stare that demanded either answers or your soul.   

  
“I-It’ll be fine guys!” Armin raised his hands up in defence, a wary smile pulling at his lips. “It’s not like they’d pick up some random people off the street and expect them to experts, we’ll probably just be helping out around the place. You know… making coffee, organising files, that sort of stuff.”

  
Eren groaned at the job description and ran a hand through his messy hair. “Fine, whatever, not like I got anything else going on. But if this turns to shit it’s on you.”

  
“Sure,” Armin giggled. “Oh right. Mikasa, I saved you some bread.” He grabbed the piece that was resting peacefully on his knee and handed it over.

  
Mikasa woofed it down with a gulp. “So am I included in this or what?”

  
“I told them there are three of us, and that Eren’s dad raised you as well. They said they’d see what they can do.”

  
“I don’t care what they say, I go where Eren goes.”

  
“Oh my god, Mikasa. Give it a break already,” Eren sighed and rolled his eyes. _Sina help whoever who tries to tell her she can’t go with us,_ he thought. “Where is this place anyways?”

  
“Not sure,” The blonde shrugged. “There are a few different facilities, I’m pretty sure they’re all within wall rose. The guy told us to go back in three days to meet him.”

  
“Alright Armin!” Eren exclaimed as he sat back down, a determined and somewhat deranged look in his eyes as he leant towards his friend. “You have three days to smarten me up.”

  
Armin’s mouth hung open as he gave Eren an incredulous stare. “Um… sure.”

 

 

* * *

 

   
Three days later and Eren had learnt the equivalent of jack shit. Armin assured him it would be fine, that they wouldn’t expect a group of 16 years olds to know much anyways. But the thing is that he doesn’t know “not much”, he knows literally _nothing_.

The obvious solution is to lie his ass off and hope it sticks, and that’s exactly what he’s going to do.

 

The sun was high in the sky when Armin lead them to the shabby wooden house that was presumably being used as a “recruitment station”, whatever the hell that means. Eren and Mikasa followed him inside, eyes examining the interior to see if there was anything interesting to look at.   

  
There wasn’t.

  
Except for an extra-tall blonde guy with freakishly ginormous eyebrows. He was sitting at a small round table, looking down at his clasped hands that rested atop the wooden surface. Eren stared long enough for it to be considered rude but he couldn’t help it, those bushy brows just demanded attention. Eren was startled when the stranger suddenly blinked and icy blue eyes locked on to him. 

 

“Good afternoon,”

  
The deep commanding voice echoed through the room and instantly gained their full attention. An awkward scraping noise cut through the silence as the stranger slowly pushed out his chair and stood up, looking each of them in the eyes to confirm that yes, he was in fact speaking to them.

  
“Uhh… Hey?” Eren tried.

  
“I am Erwin Smith, Project Director of the Survey Crop’s Special Operations Laboratory. I was told that you three were interested in a position.”

  
“Nice to meet you,” Armin replied. He took in their new acquaintance’s appearance and his brows pinched together in confusion. “You’re not the same man from the other day?”  

  
Erwin’s eyes focused on the short blonde. “He was a recruiter. They go around and let us know if they find anyone suitable, I can’t waste my own time doing these things,” He extended an arm and gestured towards the table. “Please, take a seat.”  

  
They all managed to squish around the small table, Armin sitting across from Erwin with Eren and Mikasa on either side. They each took a turn at introducing themselves and answering any basic questions the man had. Armin was feeling particularly chatty and ended up doing most of the talking, which was probably for the best since Eren had no idea what was going on and Mikasa was… well, Mikasa. But good things never last apparently, because soon enough Erwin’s eyes shifted and pinned Eren with an intense stare.

  
“I heard that your father was a doctor, Eren. Quite a good one.”

  
Eren picked up on the past-tense and frowned. _Did he just assume that my dad’s dead?_ “Yeah, he is...”

  
“I was also informed that you learnt a lot from him.”

   
_Shit._ “That’s right,” Eren laughed nervously and scratched his head, sending a dangerous glare in Armin’s direction. “Though I’m not sure how relevant it is since you’re working on Titans. But yeah, I’d say that I have a basic understanding.”

  
There was a drawn-out hum of approval from Erwin. “Excellent. I am sure that your medical experience will be useful.”

 

_Oh, I am so fucked._

 

Thankfully, Mikasa suddenly decided that it was time she contributed to the conversation. “What do you _actually_ do?”

  
Erwin met her challenging stare, and Eren wondered if those eyebrows provided him with some sort of protection from Mikasa’s eye daggers. “I am the Project Director, and as such, most of my time is spent directing projects.”

_  
Daaamn, Eyebrows got some sass._ Eren and Armin’s heads both whipped around to watch Mikasa closely, searching for any signs of impending doom so that they could run and take cover.

  
She gritted her teeth, perfectly aware that he was messing with her but unable to stop the anger from bubbling to the surface. “What sort of projects?”

  
“Our main objective is to destroy the titans,” Erwin replied casually.

  
“No _shit._ ” She snarled and slammed her hands on the table, but Eyebrows looked completely unfazed by it. 

  
“We are currently exploring several different angles, however I am not at liberty to share the details with unauthorised persons”.

And just like that, Mikasa was defeated.  

 

  
The heavy silence that followed was broken by Eren “Do you think you can? Destroy the titans?”

  
“I think it’s possible,” Erwin appraised the brunet sitting next to him. “The situation has been further complicated by the loss Wall Maria, but objectively… our team finding a solution is more likely than the combat forces managing to kill them all by hand.”

  
Eren closed his eyes and took a moment to process the information. This Erwin guy seemed to know what he was talking about, and he supposed it made sense. How many titans are out there? He had no idea, but he’d be willing to bet the number was pretty damn high. From what Eren’s heard, there is always a horrifically high number of deaths whenever they fight titans. He recalled that day in Shiganshina; blood and bodies littering the streets, soldiers and civilians alike.

His mother.

Eren’s eyes opened again to find everyone looking at him, waiting for a response. He locked eyes with Armin and gave a small nod of approval.

  
Armin nodded back and then looked to Mikasa, who shrugged with indifference. “Alright, we’re interested…” He paused in thought for a second and then met Erwin’s eyes. “What’s in it for us?”

  
“I was wondering when you would ask,” Erwin quietly chuckled to himself, which gave them the distinct impression that this was going to be rather unconventional. “Due to the current strain on resources, we’re not exactly in a position to pay you.”

  
He was treated to a dirty look from Mikasa who opened her mouth to shout something about wasting their time, but Erwin quickly raised a steady hand to silence her.

  
“Please allow me to explain properly,” Erwin lowered his hand when she looked sufficiently placated. “Most of the facilities have been short handed for quite a while, since we must adhere to a strict budget. Our brightest minds waste most of their time doing admin work and waiting around instead of what they’re there to do. Now, with the fall of Wall Maria, we knew that there would be refugees struggling to survive with no home or provisions. That is why we sent out recruiters”.

“You three are from Shiganshina, correct?”

  
“Yeah,” Armin replied quietly, earning him a sympathetic look from Erwin.

  
“I’m sorry. I can only imagine the horrors you must have seen,” His face returned to it’s neutral expression as he continued. “This is an opportunity for a mutually beneficial arrangement. In exchange for your services, we can provide you with a comfortable place to live and regular meals.”

  
“Okay,” Armin straightened up and nodded confidently. “We’ll do it.” 

  
Mikasa’s jaw dropped. “Armin! We need at least talk about this!”

  
After sighing at his sister’s outburst, Eren wasted no time jumping into the fray. “What’s there to talk about, Mikasa? We’ve barely managed to keep ourselves alive this long!”

  
“So what? We just go with this stranger to a place we don’t know, and hope that he isn’t some lying psychopath!?”    

  
“Yeah! That’s exactly what we’re going to do, unless you have a better idea?” 

  
Erwin eye’s flicked between them with interest before they landed on Armin, who was about to bravely step between the squabbling siblings.

  
“Both of you just calm down,” Armin held up his hands to get their attention, then turned to Mikasa. “Eren is right. This opportunity is too good to pass up, and if we wait around they’ll probably just find someone else. We _need_ this,” His usually sweet face suddenly darkened “Do you know where I got that apple yesterday? I found it on the ground as I was walking down the road. On the _ground_ , Mikasa!”

 

“A-hem,”

  
They turned back to the table.

  
“Just so you know,” Erwin began as went to pull something out of his coat. “I do have my identification papers on me, and the necessary documentation. I am sure you’ll find it to be sufficient evidence of my intentions.”

  
A small stack of paperwork was placed on the table. As they all crowded around to examine the documents, Eren spotted the ID paper and picked it up. Curious green eyes zipped across the information. 

_Erwin Smith, October 14 th_ _..._  
_Survey Crops, SOL Director..._  
_Super power: eyebrows, blah blah blah..._

Eren glanced at man that was waiting patiently and then back to the paper; that’s definitely him in the photo. Eren made a thoughtful humming noise and passed the paper along.  _Seems legit._

 

Once they had gone through everything, Mikasa finally yielded and apologised for her accusations, explaining that they hadn’t made it this far by blindly trusting every Tom, Dick and Harry. Erwin actually commended her for it and said that it’s always good to be cautious, especially with so many desperate people wandering around at the moment. He supplied them with some vague details such as the _general_ location ("South") and what the compound was like, assuring them that he would give them the specifics once they got there.

  
Eren honestly couldn’t believe that this was turning out so well. This guy is going to give them shelter and food in return for helping around the place? That’s a pretty sweet deal. It made him wonder why _they_ were chosen for this… had Armin been that convincing the other day? He wouldn’t be surprised. Erwin said that they were looking for refugees, which made sense since they seem to want a live-on-site sort of thing. Who better than someone who has no home or family to leave behind? Eren stared at Erwin as he chewed his lip and tried to puzzle this out. Most of the refugees from Wall Maria were marched straight in to the mouth of a titan. The people who were spared from that were, for the most part, children. Maybe these people were having difficulty finding anyone that was old enough to actually be useful? Hell, they probably won’t even care that Eren lied about knowing medical stuff. They just want him to do the grunt work, right?

 

“I believe that is everything.” Erwin commented as he gathered up the papers, promptly returning them from whence they came.   

  
“Awesome,” Eren replied, feeling his face starting to go red from giving such a casual response to his now-boss. Erwin’s blank stare didn’t help.

  
“So now what?”

  
Erwin stood and looked them over “I’ll meet you here tomorrow, just after sunrise. Go hom-” he suddenly cleared his throat. “Go back to wherever you are living and gather any possessions you may have. Get a good rest, it’s a long journey.”

  
  
 

* * *

 

  
The trio made their way back to the short section of brick wall they currently called home and gathered up the few things they had. There wasn’t anything particularly special, since they keep the important items on their person, just some spare clothes and essential items that they managed to acquire over the weeks. Once that was sorted, they stood there are exchanged glances, not knowing what to do now. There was nothing tying them to this dank alleyway, so they eventually decided head over to where they were meeting Erwin tomorrow. They could surely find somewhere just as pleasant to sleep there and it would save them from walking in the early hours of the morning.  

  
Just as predicted, they easily managed to find another alleyway that was equally as repulsive as the last. They hunkered down in the usual sleeping arrangement; backs against the wall with Mikasa in the middle, a thin blanket spread across them.

  
Eren looked towards the night sky and thought of his mother, he missed her so much that it physically hurt. He couldn’t help thinking how she would feel about all this… happy, no doubt. Even if it was only because Eren didn’t end up fighting like he said he would. It made him burn with anger, but he managed to snuff it out by telling himself that he was still fighting, just in a different way.  


	2. New Home

The first thing Eren saw when he woke up was a giant figure looming over his sleeping form. He panicked, thinking it might’ve been that titan with the smug fucking smile coming back to finish the job. His pupils contracted as they adjusted to the morning light, revealed an imposing pair of eyebrows. Relief rushed through him as he realised that it wasn’t an enemy, it was just that intense director guy from yesterday that was… watching him sleep?

 _Huh.  
_  

“Hey!” Eren shouted, cringing at his own volume as he scrambled to his feet. His head tilted back, and then back some more, until he was finally looking up at Erwin. _Holy shit…_ Eren hadn’t realised just _how_ tall this guy was when they were sitting at the table yesterday. Green eyes darted around awkwardly. “Were you… were you watching me sleep?”

  
“Not really,” Erwin replied, looking down at the other two that were beginning to stir. “I haven’t been here long. I came over to wake you, and was thinking of the politest way to do so.”

  
“Eren…? Wha-” Armin’s eyes fluttered open and he quickly caught up with the situation. He bounced off the wall and shook Mikasa’s shoulder, who reacted by grabbing Armin’s arm in a tight death-grip that made him squeal in pain.

 

 

As soon as everyone was up and awake, they changed into some clean clothes that Erwin gave them and were lead to where another man was waiting with several horses. Erwin introduced the newest addition as Moblit Berner. Eren thought that he seemed like a nice guy, and it was refreshing to see someone of more reasonable height. He was afraid he'd be going to the land of giants.   

  
They spent a decent amount of time trying to figure out how to direct the horses, pulling on the reigns and falling off multiple times. At least 20 minutes had passed by the time Erwin finally snapped and instructed the three to just sit still, insisting that the other horses would simply follow his own.

  
Happy about not having to do anything, Eren decided to just sit back and enjoy the ride.  

   
And he did, until his body started to ache. About 3 hours in and his thighs felt like they had just been squished by an obese 15-metre titan, and judging by their faces, his friends weren’t doing much better. There was a collective groan of relief when Moblit announced that it wasn’t much further. How the hell can people do this everyday?

  
  
Not long after that, several large buildings came into sight near the edge of a forest. Eren could see Wall Rose in the distance and given the direction they had been riding in, he figured that they must be somewhere near to Trost District. As they got closer, Eren could tell that the buildings were grey and glossy… _some kind of metal?_ He could also make out the Survey Corps logo, the wings of freedom, plastered on several walls.

 

  
_Shit’s weird._

 

* * *

 

  

They finally reached the grassing opening in the middle of the site and Eren slide off his horse like a dead squid. The brunet laid on the ground and questioned every decision that led him up to this moment; face down in the dirt, surrounded by strangers, and a deep burn in his ass and legs. He’d only just gotten there, and he already needed a medical day… Maybe a week. 

  
After resting on the grass for a while, the pain had reduced to a dull stinging sensation that didn’t quite make him want to die when he dragged himself to his feet.

   
You okay?” Moblit asked and looked at the trio worryingly.

  
Eren nodded, Armin groaned, and Mikasa made a terrifying noise that could best be described as a growl.

  
“Follow me.” Erwin commanded as he returned from putting the horses away and made a beeline to the entrance of the closest building.

 

They followed him through the large double doors, which were mostly made of glass, and found themselves in a surprisingly cosy-looking living area. The room was spacious and filled with various pieces of furniture; there were several dark coloured couches and chairs spread around the place, along with a few cushions and small coffee tables. A huge wooden bookcase stood against one of the walls, and _boy_ was it full. The place was decorated with an impressive animal-fur rug, a few frames filled with art hanged off the walls, and large windows that let in warm rays of sunlight. Throw in the calm cream-coloured walls and _hey presto_ , you’ve got yourself a kick-ass lounge.

  
Erwin noticed that all three of his guests were making confused facial expressions as they looked around and decided to help them along. “This is the building we live in; all the communal areas are on the ground floor. The bed chambers are upstairs, and another bathroom as well. You all look exhausted, so I’ll wait until tomorrow to show you around the other buildings,”

  
“Wow… okay,” Armin mumbled to himself as he looked around some more. “Are you sure it’s okay for us to stay here?”

  
“Of course. You are working for us now, after all.” Erwin smiled brightly. Armin’s face instantly went pink and he spun around, attempting to look casual as he examined some book titles on the shelf.

  
Eren really wanted to hurry this along. He was tired, and his backside was still giving him hell. He spied the bottom of a staircase through one of the large doorways… that’ll probably take him where he wants to go. He rushed ahead of the others, desperate to fall into an actual bed for the first time in weeks.

  
“The number of people staying here varies depending on what we’re doing, but most us are permanent residents,” Erwin continued as he gazed down at Armin by his side, slowly leading the other two towards the stairwell that Eren was already standing in.  

  
“We have several spare rooms at the moment, so you’re free to choose out of those. As far as house rules go; stay out of rooms that aren’t yours and don’t touch what doesn’t belong to you. Other than that, you can move around as you wish, but keep in mind that we lock the place up at midnight for security reasons. The kitchen and dining area is over there, we do have set meal times but there are always some snacks available if you need anything… Eren, are you listening to me?”  

 

  
Eren had stopped paying attention to that boring lecture half-way through. He had reached the dimly lit stairs and glanced to the top, his heart almost stopping as his eyes locked with sharp silvery blue.

  
The pair of eyes that were currently piercing into his soul were framed by thin pristine eyebrows and inky black strands of hair, a stark contrast again the man’s porcelain white skin. Eren felt a shiver run down his spine, but he didn’t dare break the eye contract in case it would cause this beautiful apparition to disappear.

  
He could see faint dark circles under the steely eyes, but that just added to the effect in his opinion.

  
This wonderful thing called peripheral vision provided Eren with the fact that the man was wearing a loose grey shirt and although he had quite a slim physique, his shoulders looked strong and angular. Everything below his chest was concealed by the railing.  _Stupid railing._ Eren could hear the sound of Erwin’s voice droning on behind him but was too caught up in the enchantingly bizarre stare-off to pay attention. His pulse was still racing from the initial shock, which wasn’t surprising since he’d probably only been standing there for a few short seconds.

  
He wasn’t sure what he was feeling right now… some strange combination of wonder, fear, fascination, and a lot more fear. It was like this guy was reaching in to Eren’s chest with some freaky eye magic and was giving his heart a really-tight squeeze.  

   
All Eren knew is that this was fucking _weird_.

  
And he kinda liked it.

 

“Eren, are you listening to me?”

  
The sudden use of his name caught his attention, and he looked back over his shoulder. “Huh?”

  
“I said this building is locked at midnight. Make sure you’re inside by then, or you’ll be sleeping on the grass.” Erwin repeated with an annoyed edge to his voice.

  
“Um… yeah,” Eren nodded, ignoring whatever bullshit Erwin was babbling about. He had more interesting things to focus on right now.

  
Bright emerald eyes went straight back to the top of stairs to look at… absolutely nothing.  _What the fuck?_  

 _  
Holy shit…_ “Was that a fucking ghost?!” It was the first thought that popped in to Eren’s mind and he couldn’t stop it from flying out his mouth.

  
“A ghost?” Mikasa questioned and gave him a look that said, _“what the hell is wrong with you?”_

  
“Yes!” Eren’s hand shot through the air and pointed at the stairs. “I saw a man standing up there, with black hair and really pale skin. He was just… staring at me! Then I looked away for only a second and now he’s vanished!”

 

Silence.

 

Erwin fucking laughed.

 

“I’m serious!”

  
“I know. Eren-” Erwin chuckled once more before he managed to reign himself in with a loud exhale. “Based on your description, I would say that was Levi. He works here."

  
“Oh…”

  
The amused expression remained on Erwin’s face. “I admit that Levi is very… unique, but I do believe this is the first time anyone’s ever mistaken him for ghost."

 _  
Eren, you are an idiot._ “But… why?” He stammered. “Why did he-“

  
“Never mind him,” Erwin interrupted, knowing what Eren was trying to ask. “I’d bet he wasn’t expecting to run into us. Levi’s not exactly a social butterfly, he probably just doesn’t feel like talking to people right now.” 

   
  
Well that’s a logical enough explanation…. A ghost would’ve been way cooler though.

 

Erwin took the lead and ascended the staircase while attempting to make small talk, but once again Eren wasn’t listening.

 

Erwin said that the guy, Levi, works here… which means he lives here. And now Eren lives here too, which means he will _definitely_ get to see him again… and probably talk to him. He wondered what Levi’s voice would sound like. It’s hard to imagine something you’ve never heard before, but based on his general atmosphere, Eren decides that it would probably be somewhere on the deep side, although he could be wrong. Eren had no clue what that brief encounter was about; Erwin had explained why he was there and why he left without saying anything, but he did _not_ explain why this Levi person had stared at him with the intensity of a fucking fire-tornado. Eren couldn’t decide whether he wanted to keep his distance or run back for some more.

  
They were on the top floor now. Erwin explained that spare visitor rooms were in one direction, while the place where the permanent people stayed was in the other. Apparently, the visitor rooms aren’t as nice… but they’re just glad to have four walls and a roof. A shrill screeching sound was heard as they walked down the corridor, and then someone suddenly flew out from behind a corner.  

  
“Hello!”

  
“AH!” Armin shouted in surprise and stumbled backwards until he bumped into Mikasa. “Um… H-hi?”

  
There was a low chuckle from Erwin… again. He obviously finds scaring the shit out unsuspecting people hilarious.  _Jack ass._    
 

“My name is Hange! Sorry for pouncing on you like that, I just got a bit too excited.”

  
“That’s okay… I’m Armin,” He smiled and gestured at the others. “This is my best friend Eren, and his sister Mikasa.”

  
“Great! Since we’re all buddies now, maybe I should take over as tour guide?” Hange suggested.   

  
Erwin gave her a pointed look. “I am capable of doing it.”

  
“But don’t you have work to do, Erwin?” They hummed and leaned towards him, tapping a finger on their chin in mock-thinking. “Liiiike… oh, I don’t know... looking over and approving that research proposal I sent you last week. Hmmm?”  

  
After staring at Hange for a few seconds, he huffed, spun around, then marched down the hall and disappeared.  _Okay bye then…._

   
“Riiight-o! I got some ultra-fresh linens for you lot, the best of the best for the best” Hange spun in to a strange pose and pointed down the hall way. “Follow me!”

   
  


 

* * *

 

 

The walk to the end of the hall was far shorter than they expected; Hange’s enthusiasm made it seem like they could be taking a carriage to the magical land of far-far-away.

  
Hange unlocked a basic wooden door and tumbled inside. “Here we are! I hope you enjoy your stay, and please give us a good review.”

  
“Wha-?”

  
“Nothing!” Hange clasped their hands together and giggled. “Do you want to share this room? It’s up to you, we have enough for you to have one each If you want that. Or you can share while you settle in and then move around later, what do you think?”

  
“We’ll share.” Mikasa finally speaks!

  
“Wonderful. There are four beds, as you can plainly see,” Hange’s hands flapped around in the air, gesturing to everything, “Just grab one and you’re sorted. The sheets are clean, buuut… hmm… No one’s been in here for a while, so it might be a little dusty.”  

  
“Don’t worry about it.” Eren assured. As if some dust would bother them after living in a putrid alleyway. “So, you work here?” 

  
“Yup!”

  
“Can you… tell us about it?”  

  
An excited squeal filled the room as Hange jumped around on the spot. “I sure can! And I’m sooo glad you asked” Hange made themselves comfortable on one of the beds, legs crossed and a huge smile on their face as they finally released the word vomit. “We’re studying Titans right, with the end goal of finding a way to get rid of them. To put it simply we’re looking at their biology, habits, interactions, and anything else that might lead us a solution. You heard me say before that I just handed in a proposal, right? That’s my latest Idea, and I’m so excited to start, I gotta wait for the big boys to approve it though. I won’t tell you what it is right now but trust me when I say it’s going to be AWESOME!”

  
Hange paused and took a massive breath.

  
“So yeah, that’s the ‘mission statement’, so to speak. We’re _technically_ apart of the Survey Corps, you probably noticed those big-ass wings on the building outside, but I bet that isn’t really surprising since they’re the military branch that is responsible for titan combat _and_ research! Umm… what else… Oh yeah! I do genetic research, you know what that is, right!? Messing around with DNA and stuff, it’s _so_ cool.”

  
Armin tiled his head to the side “Titans have DNA?”

  
“OF COURSE! Why wouldn’t they? They’re living things, even if they are essentially just walking Venus Fly-traps. I could tell you so much about it that it isn’t even funny, but I won’t right now. Okay! So… you’ve met Erwin, he’s the boss-man around here and his job is pretty much to make sure that we’re doing our jobs, but he’s pretty chill. Moblit is the lab technician here, he went with Erwin to pick you guys up I’m sure you’ve already met him.”

  
Eren nodded.  _I_ _like where this is going._  
  
   
“He’s such a sweetie pie, right? Poor Mobby’s been so busy lately, you three will be taking over most of the basic stuff he’s been doing. And then there’s my best buddy Levi, he does microbiology which is just _soooo_ ironic, you’ll find out why when you meet him, but real- …what’s wrong?”

  
Armin was trying not to laugh. “Oh, it’s just that Eren’s already met him.”

  
“Really?” Hange got on their knees and leant forward until they were right in Armin’s face. “And? What happened? Was it scary?”

  
The blonde took a step back to regain some personal space and shrugged. “Maybe? They stared at each other for a few seconds, and Eren thought he was a ghost.”

  
“Pffft! Hahaha!” Hange fell back on to the bed cackling like a hyena and grasping at their stomach as they tried to suck in oxygen. “That’s hilarious!”

  
Eren felt an embarrassed blush creeping up his neck, so he cleared his throat and tried to defend himself. “He did kinda look like one in the dark… I just hope he’s in a better mood next time we see him.”

  
Hange stopped laughing and sat up, their hair messed up from rolling around on the sheets. “A better mood? Oh, sweetie... I don’t think so.”

  
“Huh?”

  
“Okay, how do I put this… Levi is pretty much always in a bad mood, ranging from offensive sassy-ness to murderous rage. It might have something to do with moon or something, you’ll see what I mean.”

  
Eren wondered if it was this so-called _“murderous rage”_ that he met in the stairwell.

  
“So he’s an asshole?” Mikasa cut in from the bed she had claimed during Hange’s rant.  

  
“Don’t be rude Mikasa, you haven’t even met him yet,” Eren glared at her before turning back to the conversation. “But why is he always in a bad mood?”

  
Hange made a _whoosh_ noise with their mouth and shrugged. “Don’t ask me! And I don’t recommend asking him, either.” Hange paused to hum thoughtfully. “I’m pretty sure he used to be in the combat forces, I don’t know very much about that though. I met him like… four years ago when I was hired here, and we’ve been best friends ever since!”  

  
“Interesting,” Eren gazed longingly at the bed Hange was sitting on. “Hey, I’m actually pretty tired from the ride over here, I was thinking I mi-”

  
“Say no more! I’ll get outta your hair and let you guys rest.” Hange bounced up from the bed and headed towards the door.  

  
“See you later, Hange. Thanks for the gossip sesh.”

  
“Anytime sweetie, I’m always up for a chat.” They winked and closed the door behind them.

 

 

Eren sighed and looked over at Armin and Mikasa, they both looked just as exhausted as he felt. He shuffled over to the now empty bed and let himself fall face first into the mattress. 

  
“Wow,” Was the muffled sound that came out of his mouth.

  
“I know right.” Armin replied, flopping down on another bed. “I can’t believe it’s only the middle of the day, I am so ready for sleep.”

  
Eren’s face emerged from under a pile of scruffy hair as he turned to look at his sister. “You okay Mika? I told you it would be fine.”

  
“Yes. It seems nice here, but that Hange is a bit over the top.”

  
“Hmm…” Eren sucked the inside of his cheek as he thought. “I think they balance things out.”

  
“What do you mean?”

  
He smirked. “People like Hange talk heaps, so that people like you don’t have to.”

  
Eren yelped in surprise as a pillow smacked him in the face. “Wow, thanks for letting me use your pillow sis!”

  
“Eren…” That sounded like a warning.

  
“Yeah, yeah, I’m just kidding.” He gracelessly tossed it back, the pillow going off course and making a soft _thump_ as it landed against the wall. “Whoops.”

  
A soft grumbling sound gained their attention. Heads turned to find Armin crashed out on the bed, a few blonde strands of hair the only thing visible from under the sheet. “Sleeeeep.”

  
He’s not going to argue with that. Eren got under his own blankets and curled in on himself.  

 

  
A happy noise escaped him as his body relaxed in to the mattress. It felt strange to be sleeping during the day, but he couldn’t care less. He just hopes that his muscles aren’t completely destroyed from riding that damn horse. Eyebrows hadn’t seemed fazed at all by it… he must be pretty buff.

  
Dark silver eyes entered Eren’s thoughts.

 

   
_Levi…_

   
 

He wondered what Levi thought about that moment… if he thought about it at all, that is. Did he feel strange about it as well? Eren kind of liked the way it felt to have someone stare at him so intensely, like he was something _worth_ looking at, not just a stupid kid or some homeless piece of trash. It made his skin tingle with exhilaration. But it scared him as well. The way he looked at him… it gave Eren an uneasy feeling. Like those sharp eyes could see past all his barriers and straight into his core. Which, all things considered, wasn’t really a good thing. Had Levi felt anything like that? Eren is pretty sure that he doesn’t have a cutting gaze like him… so probably not. It was useless to think about anyways, it’s not Eren was going to walk up and ask him about it.

  
Because that would be weird.  

 

   
_“Hey Levi, you don’t know me but how did you feel when we made eye-contact for like five seconds?”_

   
 

Yup… weird.

 

Hange said that Levi had a temper… but it didn’t seem like a _“I hate you”_ stare, not to Eren anyways. And he certainly knows what that looks like, since Mikasa hands them out like it’s her job. It had felt strangely intimate, more like a _“I am examining the very essence of your soul”_ kind of stare. It was almost like some sort of freaky eye sex.  _Woah…_

 

_Nope. Nope. Nope._ _That is weird, Eren. You haven’t even talked to the guy._

 

_That is so, so weird._

   
  
Eren forced himself to think about something else as he waited for sleep claim him. If Hange does genetic stuff, maybe they could find out what causes big-bushy-eyebrow syndrome… Maybe there is a cure for Erwin? He tried to think what Hange’s new project could be but came up with nothing. It was beyond his imagination and probably the physical laws of the universe itself.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love feedback!


	3. First Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here come the Levi scenes!
> 
> I suck at chapter titles, so I generally just use some random words from the chapter.

Levi was just about ready to give up on sleeping tonight. He’d been sitting there in the dark with his eyes closed for what felt like forever and he was still wide awake. 

_  
Maybe I should try the bed._

 

His eyes cracked open to stare at the piece of furniture in question, only just visible in the dark room due to the faint moon light streaming in through the window. 

 _  
B_ _ut that has never helped before._

 

He didn’t bother checking the time, it would only make him angry for wasting fuck knows how long just sitting there in his chair. 

  
Levi wondered if his insomnia was being aggravated by having strangers in the building. That wouldn’t be surprising, it’s difficult to feel comfortable enough to sleep when people you don’t know are lurking the halls… and even more so after that awkward run in. He hadn’t known that Shitwin was back already, he wouldn’t have stepped foot outside his room if he had. Levi had just wanted to go make some fucking tea, but instead he was treated to a stairwell ambush. Ordinarily, Levi would have retreated as soon as he noticed someone was there, and he had been about to, but then they made eye contact and he sure-as-fuck wasn’t going to be the one to back down. But even he had to admit that it was strange, most people turn tail and run when he glares at them like that… but that brat had just stood there, gazing up at him like he was some kind of fucking spectacle. 

  
_His eyes were an interesting colour, though… whatever._  
 

He’s got better things to think about than some brat and his sparkly eyes, such as the concerningly low number of hours he’s slept this week. Levi’s eyes moved to examine the stack of papers on his desk; doing some more work might make him tired. There isn’t much left for him to do at this point… but checking it couldn’t hurt. Hell, if he’s got the whole night to waste, he may as well redo the entire thing in fucking calligraphy. Levi leaned forward and lit the gas lamp on his desk, eyes squinting at the sudden assault on his retinas. He sorted through the papers, pulling out the page that contained his most recent notes and started reading it.

 

**_Bang!_ **

 

Levi jumped out of his seat in alarm and mentally kicked himself for it.  _The fuck?_ He looked around the room, expecting to find that something had randomly fallen over but everything was in its place. What the hell was that? He may be seriously sleep deprived right now but that wasn’t exactly uncommon, and he’s never imagined sounds before.

  
There it was again, much less startling this time since he’d been expecting it, and he realised that it was coming from outside. Levi walked over to the window and peered out in to the darkness, nothing to see but trees and shadows.  

 

**_Bang._ **

 

Levi’s narrowed eyes followed the random object that had just smacked in to the wall outside as it fell back to Earth. Was someone trying to smash the window? That wouldn’t make any sense, who the hell would want to break in to this place? And more importantly, why would anyone even be here? They were currently right smack in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere. Another projectile narrowly avoided the window and Levi was fucking done. He snatched his set of keys off the desk and stormed out the door, down the dark hall way and into the stairwell.

  
When he reached the bottom floor, he detoured to ignite the lamp that was sitting on one of the tables. As soon as the room was illuminated, Levi was startled yet again as something slammed against the front door like a giant fuck-off moth that was desperate to get some of that delicious guiding light.

  
He became painfully aware that he hadn’t brought his knife with him, but he turned to face the threat regardless and… _Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me._

  
He glowered at door, which currently had that same brat’s face and hands squished against the glass. Levi slowly stalked closer, taking slight amusement in how the desperate facial expression quickly morphed into one of pure horror.

  
And Eren was horrified. He had been excited to meet the handsome man from the staircase again, but not like this. _Anything_ but this. He watched helplessly as Levi walked towards the door, searching his metallic eyes for some sort of reassurance, but what Eren saw flickering in them was indisputably the “murderous rage” Hange had warned of. _Why him, of all people? Why?! This is so embarrassing!_

  
Levi used one of his keys to unlock the door and Eren had the good sense to take a step back before it flung open, just barely avoiding the added mortification of face planting in it for the second time that evening.

 

“What in the three fucking walls do you think you’re doing?”

  
“I’m s-sorry, I got locked outside… It’s f-freezing out there,” Eren ducked under Levi’s arm that was holding the door open, which was a bit lower than he predicted, and bolted inside. He grabbed the fur rug off the floor and wrapped it around himself like a coat, then looked back to his saviour. “You’re Levi, right?”

 _  
Fucking brat._ Levi re-locked the door and turned to him. “So, shitwin and four-eyes had the time to talk shit about me, but neither of them bothered to tell you that this building gets locked at night?”

  
“No, they weren’t talking about… umm…”

  
Levi crossed his arms and watched him fidget, non-so-patiently waiting to hear what his grand excuse was.

  
“They did tell me, but… I forgot?”

  
If Levi had his knife, he would be stabbing something right now… Probably a cushion, because he has excellent self-control. “Fucking idiot! Are you _trying_ to make me hate you?”

  
“No! I woke up and it was dark, but I couldn’t fall asleep again… so I decided to go for a walk because Erwin said we could look around. I didn’t know what the time was, although I guess I didn’t think to check either…”

  
“So what, you decided to throw rocks at my fucking window?" Levi glared him, slightly impressed that the brat didn't look away from it. "Glass is expensive, you little shit”

  
“I was banging on the door for so long, I swear I was about to freeze to death. I saw a light go on upstairs and I didn’t know what else to do,” Eren’s eyes widened. “Oh shit, did I wake you up? I’m so sorry!”

  
“ _Tch_ , I wish…” Levi closed his eyes and noticed they were heavier than usual. He actually felt tired now… from having two heart attacks within a five-minute period, perhaps?

  
“You couldn’t sleep either?”

  
Levi opened his eyes and the brat was staring back at him, green eyes wide with concern, eyebrows knitted together, and a slight tilt to his head that altogether resembled a sad puppy.  _I_ _t’s kind of… cute?_ Levi frowned. "No.”   

  
A silence filled the room, not uncomfortable but not exactly pleasant either. Levi watched his facial expression change a few times as he thought of things he wanted to say and then decided against it. _Isn’t it tiring to use your face that much?_ The guy looked like shit though, he’d probably been out there for a while before Levi had come down to rescue him… _Maybe I should say something nice?_ “I think I’ll be able to sleep now, because of you.”

  
The look of surprise on Eren’s face was priceless. “W-what do you mean?”

  
Levi raised an eyebrow at him. “Your stupidity is exhausting, brat.”  

  
Eren watched as he turned around and heading towards the stairs, hoping that Levi would actually be able to get some sleep. But… _Brat?_ “Uh… Levi?”

  
He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked back over his shoulder. “For fucks sake, what now?”

  
“My name’s Eren.” Eren gave him the brightest smile he had.

  
Levi stared at him for a moment, surprised that such a warm smile was being directed at a grumpy asshole like himself, and then carried on up the stairs. “Don’t care.”

 

And then Eren was alone. He glanced around and shuffled on his feet, unsure of what he should do now. When his eyes passed the glass door, Eren saw his reflection and realised that the massive rug he had wrapped around his body made him look like a Sasquatch. _Great._ He couldn’t believe that had actually just happened… but all things considered, Eren felt like it could’ve gone a lot worse. Levi had looked _really_ mad at first but that disappeared quickly… he had seemed almost playful by the end. Or maybe he was reading the other man wrong, and he was back in his room planning the best way to murder Eren and dispose of the body.  

  
Levi was shorter than he expected, but Eren found that he preferred that over Erwin the fucking giant. He could estimate that it was about a three or four-inch difference between Levi and himself, which isn’t _that_ much, really. Eren’s met heaps of people that height… granted most of them were female, but there were a few guys in there too. Eren started stroking the fur that was draped over his shoulder. He didn’t really get any weird feelings when Levi stared at him tonight, was it just because he was surprised the first time? _Hmm…_ but he’s been surprised by heaps of people and had never felt something like that before. Maybe it was something Levi did intentionally? Or perhaps Eren had just been too caught up in his own panic and embarrassment to pay attention.

  
He noticed the lamp sitting on the table. Eren had been so thrilled when he saw it come on and knew that someone had come down to save him from the frigid cold… his face still hurt from running in to the door. He wandered towards it, putting the rug back where it belonged along the way, and snuffed it out.

 

_Dark._

 

Eren stood there and blinked a few times until his eyes adjusted enough for him to find the stairs. Why didn’t he go upstairs when Levi did? He could have found out where the other’s room was… but he guessed that would have probably been a bit weird, and Levi hadn’t seemed like he wanted to continue chatting.

  
Shuffling down the hallway, Eren eventually found the door to his room and slipped inside. He tiptoed over to his bed and snuggled down, mentally thanking Levi for saving him from having to curl up in a bush for the night.

 

 

* * *

   
 

“Eren, wake up.”

  
The voice was accompanied by a pressure on his shoulder, pulling from dreams.

  
“Wha?”

  
Mikasa loomed over him. “Come on, it’s time for breakfast.”

  
After stretching under the covers, he sat up and inspected the room. Armin and Mikasa were already up. How long did he sleep? As he got out of bed, he noticed Mikasa giving him a strange look. “What?”

  
“Why are your clothes all dirty?”

  
Eren looked down, and yes, they were in fact dirty. He suddenly remembered his late-night adventure, during which he had tripped over several times in the dark, attempted to climb the building to get to an open window, and curled up in a shivering ball on the grass.

  
“Weeell… I went outside,” His eyes darted to the corner of the room. “Last night.”

  
Mikasa’s eye brows scrunched up. “Why? And how did that make you dirty?”

  
“It’s a long story,” Eren sighed. “In a nutshell... I woke up, couldn’t sleep, went for a walk, and got locked outside for a while.”  

  
“What?! Eren, that’s dangerous! But you’re here now… how’d you get back in?”

  
“God Mikasa, you don’t know to know _everything_!” And he would rather not re-tell the most embarrassing moment of his life. “I’m fine, don’t worry about it.”

  
Mikasa huffed and backed down. _Win._

  
They found some more clothes piled outside the door, so they headed to the showers to get clean and changed. Eren was eternally grateful for whoever left them, he would had been mortified if he had to wear those dirty clothes all day and have everyone ask him what happened. He only prayed that it was dark enough last night that Levi hadn’t noticed.   

 

Eventually they found the dining area and grabbed some breakfast. Eggs on toast, _double win._

 

“Yoo-hoo! Over here!”

  
The trio looked towards the shouting and found Hange waving at them with full force, arms flailing in the air like a deranged titan. Going against better judgement, they approached.

  
“Hey Hange,” Armin greeted.

  
“Why hello there, baby coconut!” Hange giggled. “You all sleep well?”

  
“Sure did.” Eren replied with a smile, ignoring the glare Mikasa was shooting him.

  
“Glad to hear it. We’ll be showing you three around the labs today, exciting right?!”

  
“Yeah!” Armin answered honestly.  

 

_Nerd._

 

“Righty-ho then, scoff down those eggs and then we’ll shoot over!”

  
Once the plates were licked clean, they followed a giddy Hange outside and towards another building. It looked basically the same as the residential building, except it was only one story. Hange burst through the doors, which were thankfully unlocked, and spun around to face them.

  
“Welcome, welcome!”

  
Eren was about to say something in response but Hange zipped off in another direction. They chased after them until they stopped at another stairwell, but this time it went…

  
“Down?

  
“Yes, sir! It’s much less conspicuous” Hange waggled their eyebrows. “And… I may have a few titans down there.”

  
“What?!” They shouted in unison.

  
“Safety first!” And with that, Hange leaped down the stairs. 

  
They exchanged startled looks and then hesitantly followed, coming to the bottom of the stairs and walking in to a bright foyer. Eren heard a quiet buzzing sound and looked up at the ceiling (or was it the ground?) and saw lights. “You have electricity down here?!” Eren gaped at them in disbelief.

  
“Yup! Only down here though, and it’s limited. Don’t tell anyone, ‘cause they’ll get sooo jealous!”

  
Armin followed Eren’s eyes to the light source. “Woah…”

  
Woah, indeed. They knew what electricity was, but none of them had ever seen it before. With the limited land they had within the walls, they could only produce small amounts from a few wind and water mills, and it generally went straight to the rich pigs in the capital. Hell, even Mikasa looked impressed.

  
“Okay sooo… Basic run down. We have three labs down here, Levi and I have one each, because we’re awesome, and everyone else kinda shares the third one. And isn’t that just perfect? We can have one of you helping out in each one!”

  
Mikasa frowned, and Eren already knew that she wasn’t happy about being separated.

  
“Um…” Armin interrupted. “Do you… actually have t-titans down here?”

  
“Sure do. We can’t be going over the wall whenever we need a sample, now can we? They’re in the _double_ underground level. But don’t you worry your pretty little heads, it’s perfectly safe! They’re all chained up, and they don’t get energy from artificial light.” Hange threw their arms up and gestured at the ceiling. “I do feel bad for the poor little guys, though.”

  
“What?!” Armin screeched.

  
“Well yeah…” Hange shrugged, their voice sounding uncharacteristically sombre. “As a scientist, I have a deep respect for all living things. I know that we don’t have any evidence to suggest that titans feel pain but still, I can’t help thinking that it’s cruel.”

  
They all stared at Hange, unable to decide whether those words were profoundly enlightening or clinically insane. Eren’s all for respecting nature... but titans have almost driven the human race to extinction. 

  
Hange hummed. “But I guess… when humanity itself is on the line, you do what you gotta do.”

  
The atmosphere was beginning to feel a bit dark and gloomy, but Hange’s mood instantly sky-rocketed when they saw Levi emerge from one of the hallways. Armin and Mikasa eyed him up too, finally putting a face to the name, while Eren looked him over for a completely different reason. 

  
“There you are, my precious little munchkin!”

  
“Shut the fuck up, four-eyes.” Levi came to halt next to Hange and crossed his arms as he inspected the trio. “Which one is mine?”

  
“We haven’t decided that yet! You can choose first if you want.”

  
Levi sighed. “Oi, which one of you brats makes the best tea?”

  
Eren, Armin and Mikasa all looked at each other in confusion, unable to recall if they had _ever_ made tea before in their lives. Their struggle must have been obvious, because Levi frowned at them.  

  
“Fucking useless,” His eyes shifted to Hange. “I have no preference.”

  
“Alright, it’s time for Hange the decider to step in!” They clapped their hands together and winked at Armin.

  
“I definitely want the blonde one, he seems the most excited about all this,” Hange appraised Eren and Mikasa, who looked nervous and bored, respectively. “Mikasa seems quiet and easily provoked, which paired with you, would be a recipe for awkward silence and disaster. So, I’ll send her to the other guys… Which leaves you with Eren!”

  
Levi glanced at him with disinterest, and Eren could barely contain his smile.  _Another win._

  
“That’s it folks, the decider has spoken! Eren you can go with Levi now, you other two come with me. I’ll drop Mikasa off with the others, and then we can get started!” Hange skipped down the hall with their two captives in tow.

  
“So…” Eren began and looked at Levi, feeling a bit awkward now that they were alone again. But he really wanted to say something, so he fell back on their previous conversation. “Did you manage to sleep last night?”

  
Levi’s eyes narrowed as they did a pass over of the brunet, then he turned to the hall Hange had just entered. “Hey, shitty glasses! Switch with me?”

  
“Nope!” Hange shouted back, their voice echoing in the corridor. “No swapsies, you had your chance!”

  
Levi grumbled some profanities to himself as he headed off in the opposite direction, Eren happily dogging behind him. 

 

* * *

   
 

They had reached the lab. It was a large room, filled with benches and heaps of things Eren had never seen before. The most notable feature was probably that the whole place was a bright shiny white and had a faint chemical smell. Eren waiting patiently in his designated seat; a tall stool in the corner. Levi had pointed to it and said that he wasn’t allowed to move until he got back, and Eren was thankful that he only had to wait a few minutes. Green eyes watched with interest as Levi moved things around the room. Eren didn’t know what the objects were… some glass containers, some metal things, and some more glass things. He noticed the Levi was now wearing a white coat, and the small writing on the front read _“Ackerman”_. What that his surname? It’s the same as Mikasa’s. _That’s… strange._

 

Eren wants a white coat.

 

Levi could feel eyes on him as he worked a pair of gloves on to his hands, so he turned around and shot the Brat a sharp glare before walking towards him. He stopped in front of Eren, who looked like he was in the middle of a day-dream. Levi gained his attention by snapping the rubber against his wrist. “Alright Brat, listen up. I’ve got three rules for you, and you better take them seriously”

  
“I’m listening” Eren’s eyes followed Levi’s hands. _That sounded so cool._

 

Eren wants a pair of snappy gloves.

 

“Rule number one, don’t touch anything. Rule number two, do exactly what I tell you," Levi paused for a breath and looked Eren dead in the eyes. "And rule number three, don’t fucking touch anything.”

  
Eren nodded, not sure why Levi felt the need to tell him that twice. Maybe it was because of last night... oh well, Eren decided that it would be fun to tease him a little. “But what if you tell me to touch something?”  

  
Levi’s eye twitched. “Rule number two takes priority over one and three.” 

  
“Okay, got it!” Eren straightened up and smiled. 

  
Levi looked at him accusingly. “Are you sure? Because I’ve got this strange feeling that you’re going to fucking touch something. Do you need me to repeat the rules?”

  
“…no?”

  
“Good. Now, how do you feel about cleaning?”

  
“Um…” Eren tilted his head and gave him a puzzled look. “It’s okay… I guess?”

  
“Well, you’re going to be doing a shit load of cleaning, regardless of how you feel about it. The sink is over there,” Levi vaguely waved his hand towards the other side of the room. “Go wash the glassware, and be careful.”

  
“Okay!” Eren jumped to his feet and wandered over to the sink. _“Glassware”? That’s just stuff made of glass, right?_ He grabbed some of the oddly-shaped containers and started cleaning them, hoping that it was what Levi meant.

 

The hours flew by and after a break for lunch Eren was still working on the mountain of glass, mainly because he was too caught up in watching Levi to actually focus on what he was doing. He had no idea what Levi was doing, but it looked way more interesting than doing the dishes. Eren noticed that he spent a great deal of time looking down in to a strange pair of binoculars and wondered what could possibly be in there. Eventually Eren ran out of things to wash, so he aimlessly looked around until something caught his eye.

  
It was a big white square in the corner of the room. Feeling curious, Eren walked toward it to get a better look. “Hey, what’s this thing?”

  
“Huh?” Levi looked up from his microscope and blinked a few times to clear his eyes, then glanced over at what Eren was referring to. “That’s a centrifuge.”  

  
“A centro… what?" Eren had no idea what he just said, but it sounded awesome. "What does it do?”

  
“It…” Levi paused and stared at the Brat’s clueless face. “It spins things around… really fast.”

  
“Woah, really? Why do you need something that does that?” Eren asked as he inspected it closer.

  
Levi wondered if he would get any more work done today. “You don’t need to know. Just don’t fucking touch it.” He glared at Eren’s hands, practically daring them to reach out for the machine just so he would have an excuse to kick the brat’s ass.

  
“Alright,” Eren left the mysterious object alone and went to stand behind Levi’s chair. “You don’t need to keep saying that, you know. I’m not going to touch your stuff.”

  
Levi simply blinked at him and turned back to the microscope.

 

Well that was anti-climactic, and Levi hadn’t given him anything else to do. Maybe he just wanted Eren to watch now? It was probably almost time for dinner, so he guessed that Levi would be finishing up soon. Levi replaced the piece of glass he was looking at with a different one and started scribbling something on a notebook.

  
Eren crept closer and peaked over Levi’s shoulder, attempting to read the notes, but his attention quickly wandered elsewhere as he noticed the pleasant scent coming off the other man. It was subtle, so he closed his eyes and focused on it, subconsciously leaning further forward until his face was dangerously close to Levi’s neck. It smelt earthy and fresh… kind of like a wild waterfall, or a forest after it’s rained, but muskier… _Damn._ “You smell good.”

  
Eren’s eyes flew open at the sound of his own voice, just in time to see Levi’s hand stop moving.  _Oh god, no. Please, no!_ All Eren could do was watch as Levi’s head slowly turned to face him, the promise of death in his steel blue eyes confirming that yes, Eren did just say that out loud, and yes, Levi had most certainly heard him. Let’s just not even mention the fact that Eren had practically whispered it right in to his ear like a fucking creep.    

  
“What the fuck did you just say?”

  
“Nothing!” Eren squeaked and blushed hard. He saw a flash of confusion pass through those gunmetal eyes, which were even more hauntingly beautiful up close... And that’s when Eren realised that he was still hovering mere inches away from Levi’s face. He yelped and flew back from the bench so fast you would have thought he’d used 3DM gear.

 

And then… **_smash._ **

 

Eren’s head dropped to look at his feet and saw shattered glass all over the floor; the remnants of whatever object he had knocked over in his hast to retreat. His pulse picked up and he swallowed, hesitantly raising his eyes to assess the situation. At first, Levi appeared to be frozen in a state of shock, but then his face changed in to what was undoubtedly the most terrifying expression Eren had ever seen.  _Oh… shit._

 

 

He bolted.

 

 

Straight out the door and down the hallway. He didn’t know where he was running to and he didn’t care, as long as it was the fuck away from the short ball of fury that currently wanted to murder him.

  
After running through the hall for a while, another door came in to sight. Eren grabbed the frame as he passed and used it to propel himself in to the room, struggling to keep his footing and almost falling over himself as he skidded to a stop.

 

People were staring at him.

 

“Eren?” Mikasa stepped forward.

  
“Oh… hey,” Eren panted to catch his breath and straightened out his clothing, then tried to act nonchalant as he leaned against the wall.

  
“What’s wrong?”

  
“What do you mean?”

  
“I mean… the fact that you just came flying in here like a possessed lunatic?” She crossed her arms.

  
“It’s nothing, everything’s fine,” Eren waved his hand dismissively, then gestured towards the two strangers that were giving him incredulous looks. “Gonna introduce me?”

  
Mikasa eyed him suspiciously, wondering what sort of trouble her brother had gotten into this time.

  
A woman with strawberry-blonde hair approached him and smiled. “Eren, right? I’m Petra, nice to finally meet you. And this is Oluo.” She pointed to the guy standing next to her. 

  
“Hey. I’m guessing that Mikasa already told you way too much about me?”

  
Petra giggled behind her hand. “Yeap, she sure has! Mikasa is great, she’s been so helpful today.”

  
He rolled his eyes. _Of course she has._

  
“How was your day, Eren?” Mikasa prompted once again, desperate to get some answers.  

  
“It was fine, _geez_. You don’t need to check up on me every-”

  
**“BRAT!”**

_Uh-oh…_

 

Enraged footsteps gradually drew louder until Levi appeared in the doorway, glaring at Eren’s head like he was trying to make it explode. “You little fucking shit… First you trash my lab, after I repeatedly told you to be careful and not to _fucking_ _touch anything_ , and then you run away and leave me to deal with it by myself? Is there something wrong with your fucking head?!”

  
The red-headed woman yelped and took several steps back to get clear of Levi, leaving Eren to fend for himself.

_Petra, you traitor! I thought we were friends?!_

 

“Don’t talk to my brother like that, you pygmy asshole!”

 

 _Oh…_ _NO!_ Eren gawked at Mikasa and frantically shook his head, but she completely ignored him.  

 

Levi’s vicious eyes snapped over to her. “What the fuck did you just call me?”

  
“You heard me! Back the fuck off!”

  
“No, you back off you little bitc-” He was cut off as Hange pounced on his back and engulfed him in a backwards bear hug.

  
“What’s got your knickers in a twist, grumpy pants?” Hange cooed.

  
“Get the fuck off me!” Levi struggled against the one-sided embrace, trying to free himself by clawing at Hange’s arms that were hanging on for dear life.

  
“Nope! I could hear you kicking up a fuss all the way from my lab, so what’s the problem?”

  
Levi sighed and stopped fighting, resistance is futile when it comes to shitty-glasses. His eyes landed back on Eren. “That damn brat… smashed a whole rack of test tubes.”

  
Eren, who had been listening from where he had barricaded himself behind the bench to avoid getting caught in the crossfire of the Ackerman showdown, cringed as his screw-up was vocalised. He hadn’t just broken a thing, he’d broken a _whole rack_ of things! Although, he was grateful that Levi had kept the fact that Eren was a neck-sniffing creep to himself. _Small victories._ “I’m really sorry… it was an accident.” Eren worried his lip and waited to see what would happen next. 

  
The word _‘cute’_ suddenly popped in to Levi’s head… again.  

  
“Aw! Come on, Levi, look at that adorable face! How can you stay mad at that?”

  
Levi’s frown deepened, pissed off by the way shitty-glasses had seemed to read his mind. “Let go of me, I want to leave.” The second Hange released their vice-grip, Levi ducked past them and disappeared in to the hallway without further incident.  

  
Eren made eye contact with Mikasa, who still looked just as furious as she had during their shouting match. He thought back to what Hange had said about Mikasa and Levi in the same room being a recipe for disaster and found that he whole-heartedly agreed. And Eren being in the middle of it only seemed to act as a catalyst, since Levi is prone to yelling at him and Mikasa is over-protective.

  
He made a mental note to run to Armin next time.

  
The tense silence was broken by Hange's hands clapping together. “Well, that was exciting! Great first day, gang!”

 

 

Eren was just happy to be alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	4. Friends or Something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've taken some liberties with the science-stuff for the sake of the story, so just roll with it.

The next two weeks passed rather quickly, and Eren was tremendously proud to say that he hadn’t broken anything else since the previous incident… not that he had an opportunity to, that is. For the most part, he was either on washing duty or banished to his stool in the corner.

 

During the time they spent together, Eren had learnt a few things about Levi; he liked everything to be neat and tidy, he despised messes and dirt almost to the point of compulsion, and he didn’t particularly like to make small talk. Everything said and done seemed to serve a purpose, and Eren couldn’t help being enthralled by it. Most people would probably find him obnoxious, crude and downright terrifying… but Eren wasn’t most people. Eren had already been sick to death of cocky self-righteous military douche bags, false smiles and pretty words that meant jack-shit. Levi seemed different, like he saw the world for the fucked-up horror show that it was. But while Eren appreciated it, he couldn’t help wondering what made Levi that way.

 

  
“Okay Brat, let’s get the hell out of here”

  
Eren watched as Levi hung up his white coat, peeled off his gloves and vigorously washed his hands. This was the routine. They had stayed much later than usual today because Levi had said that he needed to finish something important, which was fine, but now Eren was dying get something in his stomach. He was sure Levi had heard it rumbling earlier, but he hadn’t said anything about it. _Always the gentleman._

  
“Finally! I’m starving,” Eren put away last few glass objects that he’d just cleaned and waited at the door. He finished a while ago but had decided to wash some of them a second time, and the look that Levi had given him for it was something akin to approval.

  
“You didn’t need to stay.” Levi said as he exited the room, the Eren tagging along at his heel.

  
“I know," He shrugged. "I just didn’t want to leave you by yourself.”

  
Levi scoffed and continued staring straight ahead. “I’ve been working alone for years, I sure-as-fuck don’t need you to keep me company.”    

  
Eren hummed as they continued down the corridor. He says that now, but Eren hadn’t heard a single complaint while they were in there. “Can I ask you something?”

  
“What?” Levi replied flatly.

  
“Um… it might be too personal, so if you don’t want to answer tha-”

  
“Just spit it out.”  

  
“I was just wondering…” He spoke quietly as he stared at the back of Levi’s shoulder. “If you hate dirt and germs so much, why do microbiology?”

  
When there was no immediate response, Eren began to worry that he had pissed Levi off by asking something he shouldn’t have, but then the other man made a thoughtful noise and slowed down his pace.

  
“Would you like me to explain why that was a stupid-ass question?”

  
Eren was confused again. “Um… sure?”

  
“That question was stupid for too many reasons to count, but I’ll list off a few of my favourites for you. There is a phenomenally large difference between _“dirt”_ and what I work with. Also, not all microbes are bacteria, you dip-shit. And just because I hang out with the tiny bastards in my lab, that doesn’t mean that I want them crawling all over my skin. Knowledge is power, brat”

  
“What does that mean?” Eren looked at the back of Levi’s head with a puzzled look on his face.

  
Levi sighed and sped up again, footsteps echoing through the hall. “It means that the more I know about them, the better equip I am to destroy them.”

  
“Woah… that sounded bad-ass,” He ignored the glare that was thrown at him and tried to keep up with Levi, who was a surprisingly fast walker. “Is it the same with titans?”

  
“Fucking hope so.”

   


  
Levi ascended the stairs and exited the building, taking note of the fact that it was already dark outside and decided to head straight back to his room.

  
The brat was proving to be more useful than Levi had expected. He may not be the sharpest scalpel in the dissection kit, but he wasn’t a complete dumb-ass. Levi certainly had a lot more time to focus on his work now that he had a cleaning slave. Eren did what he was told, usually, and Levi had only felt inclined to punch him in the face on two occasions. That night the idiot had gotten himself locked outside, and…

  
Levi frowned as he thought about his poor test-tubes babies that were resting peacefully in the trash, never to be used again. Not to mention the events that had lead up to that incident, it was fucking… he didn’t even know what word to use, and Levi had to actively stop himself from replaying it in his mind. Eren whispering against his ear, how he had turned around to find the most beautiful pair eyes he had ever seen, and the ridiculous blush that had spread over that brat’s stupid face. The whole thing just made him feel fucking strange.

  
Once he entered the other building and approached the stairs, he noticed that the soft sound of footfalls behind him hadn’t ceased. Levi stopped in his tracks, only to be pushed forward as Eren walked straight in to his back.

 

Levi turned around to stare at the brat’s startled face. “Why are you following me?”

  
“Sorry,” Eren apologised quietly, his eyes inspecting the empty room before settling back on Levi. “But… aren’t you hungry, too?”

  
Good question. Levi often found himself skipping meals, usually on accident, due to either his messed-up body clock or just straight up forgetting. Now that he thought about it, he realised that he hadn’t had anything since his late breakfast, so…

 

“Let’s go raid the kitchen.”   

 

Levi quickly strode towards his new destination, hearing Eren make a bizarre _whoop_ noise that he could only assume was excitement, and then the brat was jogging to catch up with him. Once again Levi had no idea was time it was, he should really get a pocket watch or something, but he knew that they had missed dinner by a long-shot since it was well and truly dark now.

  
They entered the kitchen and Eren frantically tore through the pantry like a raging tornado, shoving items all over the place and tossing a few things over his shoulder and on to the counter top.

 

Levi felt the urge to re-organise to pantry but forced himself to stay put.  

 

“Hmm… okay. I got bread, cheese - I think, and…” Eren held a jar up to his face and attempted to read the label. “I have no idea what this stuff is, but I’m willing to try it.”

  
“Are you going to make me a sandwich?”

  
Eren snapped his head to the side to give Levi a defensive look. “Who said I was going to share?”

  
“Whatever.” Levi rolled his eyes.

  
Eren watched in pure confusion as Levi’s shadowy figure climbed on to the counter, sat up against the wall and pushed open the nearby window. _What the…?_

  
As Levi struck the match, he struggled to hold back an evil chuckle as the glow of the tiny flame illuminated the astonished look on Eren’s face. Priceless.  

  
“You’re smoking inside?!”

  
Levi took a drag and squinted to see the other in the dark. “Gonna rat me out?”

  
“No," Eren couldn't care less. He tried to make out Levi's face. "I didn't know that you smoked."

  
"Only sometimes."  

   
Eren figured that meant when he was particular stressed or pissed off. "But won’t people be able to smell it?”

  
“Oh?” Levi felt a smirk appear on his face and was eternally grateful that his company couldn’t see it. “The only thing I smell is your burnt bread.”

  
“What? I didn’t bu-” Eren cut himself off with a horrified gasp. “You wouldn’t!”

  
Levi shrugged and flicked some ash out the window.

 

The cheesy bread snacks were constructed and topped with the mysterious substance from the jar, which Eren prayed was actually food and not one of Hange’s misplaced experiments. _What does this mean?_ Eren wondered as he glanced over at Levi, whose current location was being given away by a faint orange glow. It wasn’t uncommon for them to chat while they worked, but this is the first time Levi has stuck around and spent time with him outside of the lab.

  
Does this mean they’re friends or something? Eren found that he really enjoyed spending time with Levi, and desperately wanted him to feel the same way. He knew that Levi didn’t hate him, because if that were the case he would have already said so… and he wouldn’t be willingly hanging out with him in the kitchen right now. The thought gave Eren some courage, so he crawled up on to the counter to join Levi by the window and handed him one of the pimped-out bread slices.  

 

“Thought you weren’t sharing?” Levi asked and took a bite, chewing slowly as he tried to figure out what the actual hell he had just put in to his mouth.

  
“You can’t survive on tea and tobacco.” He pointed out.

  
“I disagree.”

  
Eren wasn’t sure whether it was due to the lack of visual stimuli or because Levi was sitting right next to him, but the sound of his deep voice made Eren’s chest feel tight; a similar feeling to the one he got when Levi first bewitched him with his eye-sorcery.  

  
“What the fuck did I just eat?”

  
“Dunno.” Eren shrugged and finished off his own so-called meal.

  
Levi released a long gravely hum that made Eren’s heart freak out again. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think that you were trying to poison me.”  

  
“I ate it too, so I guess we’re both dead.”

  
“I trust my co-workers to write me a bad-ass eulogy.” Levi brought the cigarette back to his mouth.

  
“Maybe we can share one?" Eren watched the smoke pour out of his mouth. _Hot._ "Since we went out together.”

  
“Fuck no, get your own funeral.”

  
“Ugh, fine.” Eren pouted and turned his head to looked out the window, disappointed to see that the starry sky was covered by a thick blanket of clouds. With nothing to look at, he turned back and used his pants to wipe the bread crumbs from his hand.  _Oops… hope he didn’t see that._

 

“So, how’d you get here brat?”

  
“To the kitchen…?” Eren asked, and he could literally feel the irritation radiating from the man sitting next to him. “Ohhh, you mean _here_ , here?”

  
“Yup.”

  
“Well… I used to live in Shiganshina, and you probably already know how that turned out.”

  
Levi nodded and inhaled some more smoke.   

  
“Armin and Mikasa are from there, too. We somehow managed to get behind Wall Rose after the attack, and then we were living on some grimy street until eyebrows showed up.” Eren anxiously tapped his index finger against the counter, already knowing what the next question would be. 

  
“What about your family?”  

  
“Gone.” Eren frowned, but then decided that he felt comfortable enough to elaborate. “My father was away for work when it happened. I haven’t seen or heard anything of him since, so probably dead. And my mother was eaten by a titan, I… saw it. I only have Mikasa now.”

  
“Sorry,” Levi whispered as he flicked the end of his cigarette out the window. “I used to fight titans… it’s a long as fuck story and it wasn’t really by choice. Then my two closest friends were killed on an expedition outside the walls, and I couldn’t deal with that shit anymore.”

  
“Sorry…” Eren suddenly felt something warm and looked down. He was just able to make out that Levi’s hand was now resting next to his own and making contact, causing a strange feeling to spread through his chest. _What is happening right now?_ Eren was confused but whatever this was, he fucking loved it. He felt one of Levi’s fingers shift slightly against his hand, so he returned the action, trying to figure out if he had just put it there by accident and praying that he hadn't.   

  
“I’ve always been smart, I guess, so I came here. It was pretty shit at first, but I’ve grown to like it.”

  
Eren glanced at Levi’s face as he stared straight ahead. Was he just ignoring whatever was going on right now? Eren moved his hand again to give Levi an encouraging nudge, his heart pounding as he felt a finger edge closer and softly trace along the back of his hand. _That was definitely intentional!_ Eren had to mentally remind himself that words were a thing people did. “Um… you’re really good at it, I’ve learnt a lot from you already.”

  
“Somehow I doubt that.”

  
And then it was silent. All Eren could hear was the faint sound of their breathing as his hand was gradually engulfed in warmth, Levi’s drifting over the top of it slowly and somewhat hesitantly. He gently wiggled his fingers beneath Levi’s in affirmation of what he was doing, and Levi finally shifted to face him, although he couldn’t make out the other man’s expression in the dark. Eren wanted to say something, but his throat felt tight and he doubted that he was even capable of speech right now. He wanted Levi to touch him more, maybe he-       

 

 

**_*PAIN*_ **

 

 

They both hissed and recoiled against the wall as the door flew open and a searing bright light flooded in to the room, effectively burning their eyes and rendering them temporarily blind. Eren’s hands flew to his face to protect his vulnerable retinas, while a decidedly evil laugh echoed throughout the kitchen.

 

“Oo hoo hoo! What’s going on in here?! Two little mice in the pantry, huh?”

  
“Fuck!” Levi snarled and raised an arm to shield his face. “What the hell, four-eyes?!”

  
Hange plonked the lamp down on the counter and crossed their arms. “Don’t yell at me! You’re the weirdos that were sitting around in the dark.”  
  
  
_Fair point._  
  
  
“Hmm… what’s that smell?” Hange glanced around and started sniffing the air.

  
“The brat burnt some food.”

  
Eren’s mouth fell open and Levi shot him a glare that promised a slow and painful death should he not co-operate. “My bad…”

  
“Aw, don’t worry about it, sweetie! The smell should clear out by morning.”

  
Eren fidgeted awkwardly on the counter top, mentally cursing Hange for always showing up out of nowhere just whenever things were starting to get interesting. He and Levi both watched silently from their perch against the window as Hange hopped around the kitchen, sculled down two glasses of water, and begun rummaging through the pantry.

  
“Aw, what! No!” Hange fell to their knees, throwing their arms up in anguish as they screamed. “Who ate all the cheese?!”

_  
Shit._  

  
 

Levi took the ensuing chaos as an opportunity to beat a hasty retreat. He mumbled something about work under his breath, which was drowned out by Hange’s distraught wails, and fled the kitchen without sparing either of them a second glance. _What the fuck just happened?_ He told himself that he had simply intended to provide the brat some comfort during their depressing conversation, which was mostly true, but it had rapidly escalated in to something entirely different. He wasn't sure why he even told the brat those things in the first place, maybe he had been trying to help by sharing his own shitty story. Misery loves company, right? Good thing four-eyes had shown up and snapped him out of it, fuck knows what might’ve happened otherwise. Levi had the nagging suspicion that his heart was dipping its toe into something without his permission.

 

 

* * *

 

The next morning Eren was hiding under his blanket, contemplating ways that he could remain there for the rest of eternity. Why was life so cruel to him? It was as if some malicious god was writing this shit in to his life for no reason other than for their own sick amusement.

  
Holding hands with Levi had felt fucking awesome, his touches were surprisingly gentle and had elicited very strong reactions from Eren’s body. Then Hange came in… and then it was awkward. And then Levi had disappeared without so much as acknowledging him, so of course Eren felt like shit. He had barely gotten any sleep either, since he couldn’t stop thinking about what might’ve happened last night if they weren’t interrupted. Eren knew that they were dangerous thoughts, but he couldn’t prevent his mind from wandering.

 

He didn’t feel a shred of remorse for eating all Hange’s cheese.

They deserved it.

 

Eren groaned loudly and rolled out of bed, quickly dressed himself and headed down stairs. He had skipped breakfast in favour of staying wrapped up in his cosy blanket burrito, so he crushed down his anxiety and went straight to the lab building.

  
Upon reaching his destination, the first thing Eren noticed was that the room was uncharacteristically empty. Levi always got there first and was usually scienceing-up a storm by the time Eren dragged his lazy ass in. _Where is he?_ Green eyes darted around the room nervously, seeing that nothing had been set up and not a single trace of Levi being there at all since yesterday.

 

_  
Weird…_

 

  
Naturally, the first thought that popped into Eren’s head was that the other man was avoiding him. That Levi felt so weird about what happened last night that he ditched his work just so that he wouldn’t have to be in the same room as Eren again. He immediately told himself off for thinking it, because that wasn’t something Levi would do. _So… what now?_ Eren walked back out into the hall and followed the now-familiar route to Hange’s lab. If anyone was going to know where Levi was hiding out, it was them. As the door came in to sight, he couldn’t hear any shouting or squealing and immediately grew concerned. Eren poked his head in to the room and saw his favourite coconut quietly sitting at a bench. “Armin!”

  
The blonde jumped so high that he almost fell off the stool. “Eren? What’s up?”

  
Eren casually wandered inside and examined the random pieces of paper stuck to the walls, most of them were shitty scribbles of titan bodies. “I was hoping you could tell me. Where is everyone? Levi isn’t in his lab.”

  
“Oh, he’s downstairs with Hange. I just saw them.”

  
And Eren wasn’t invited? Nah-uh, that is just not okay. “Can you take me there?”

  
“Um…” Armin made his _thinking-really-hard_ face. “Yeah, I think I remember the way. Follow me.”

  
Eren trailed behind him, out the door and through the hallway. “So, what’s it like working with Hange?”

  
“Exhausting,” Armin replied with a sigh. “What about you… has Levi gone on any more rampages? Hange basically flew out of here when we heard him and Mikasa arguing the other day.”

  
“I don’t blame him for that, I did fuck up pretty bad.” 

  
 Armin gave him an incredulous look over his shoulder. “You kidding, right? Eren, that guy is a total asshole.”

 

 _Well that’s just fucking rude._ Eren glared at the back on Armin’s head. “No, he’s not.”

  
They reached another flight of stairs, presumably leading to what Hange had called the _“double undergoing level”_. Well, that’s exciting. After going down, Eren found himself in another hallway that looked pretty much the same as the one upstairs. He’s really glad that he didn’t try to come down here on his own, because he would have _definitely_ gotten lost.

  
“Seriously?” Armin continued. “Whenever I see him he’s either swearing, yelling, or insulting someone… I’ve heard him do all three to you, so I say he’s an asshole.”

  
“I’m with him every day, Armin. I know him way better than you do, and I’m telling you that he’s not.” There was a hint of aggression in Eren’s voice.

  
“Okay, sure." Armin stopped in front of a large glass window with a door in it. “He’s in there.”

 

Turns out the glass window was actually a glass wall that lets you see into another white room, similar to the labs. Eren walked up to it and looked inside, eyes immediately focusing on Levi’s back. He scooted over to the glass door and reached for the handle, intending to charge in there and give them both hell for not telling him what was going on.

 

“Eren, no!”

 

He shimmied the handle, but it was obviously locked since it wasn’t doing anything. Armin’s screeching had almost made his ears bleed, so Eren looked over his shoulder at him. “Holy shit, what?!”

  
Armin just stood there frozen, mouth hanging open and his hands on his face, looking strikingly similar to that Edvard Munch painting: _“The Scream”_

  
So Eren left his weird friend alone and turned his attention back to the glass room, where Levi and Hange were both looking at him as well. _Holy shit, what?!_ He watched as Levi moved to the side of the room that the door was on, and Eren realised that there were actually two instead of one, creating a small little square in between them. Levi passed through the second door and closed it behind him, then stepped forward to the first door and stared at Eren through the glass.

  
Eren had no idea how he hadn’t noticed before, but Levi was wearing a white surgical mask that covered his nose and mouth. He looked even scarier with it on, since you couldn’t see anything except his stone-cold eyes between the white mask and his black hair, but a freaky part of Eren’s mind thought it was kinda hot. It made his eyes stand out even more, although Eren was sad for the loss of Levi's cute nose. Eren stepped closer to Levi until they were face-to-face… you know, except for the glass.

  
Levi flicked opened a metal slot on the edge of the door, and Eren was confused again. “Did you seriously just try to come in here?” Levi deadpanned.

  
When Levi’s voice seemed to come from the little metal slot, Eren assumed that he must have opened it for that purpose. It was pretty strange to hear him talking when Eren couldn’t see his mouth moving, but again he found it kinda hot.  _Lord, what is wrong with me?_ “Ah, yeah! Someone could’ve told me that you we-”

  
“Are you fucking illiterate?”

  
“Huh? What do yo-”

 

**_Bang._ **

 

Eren got a fright and saw a hint of amusement flicker in Levi’s steel-blue eyes, and then realised that he could be smiling behind that mask and no one would ever know… but that’s pretty unlikely. Confused green eyes zipped down to where Levi’s gloved hand had high-fived the glass and saw a large, blatantly obvious sign stuck to the door. How did he not see that? It reads…

 

_"Biosafety & Physical Containment Level 2 - This lab handles level 2 infectious organisms, entry prohibited without authorisation and training.”_

 

_…_

 

_Oh._

 

His hand instantly dropped from the door handle and he met Levi’s eyes again. “Wait… is it safe in there? Are you safe in there?”

  
“Yeah,” Levi’s eyes narrowed. “I know what I’m doing, unlike you.”

  
Eren glanced over at Hange and really, really, _really_ wished that he hadn’t. They were poking and prodding at a big blood-drenched hunk of flesh that was sitting on a metal table in the middle of the room. Eren’s face scrunched up in absolute horror and disgust as he watched Hange carve off a slither of flesh and turn to look at Eren, eyebrows waggling as they dangled the little piece of gore in the air like a gummy worm. He could almost feel himself having a Shiganshina flashback. “What the fucking shit IS THAT?!”

  
Levi looked back at what Hange was doing and his eyebrows pinched together, also in disgust. “Fuck, that’s revolting.” 

  
“Answer the question!!” Eren screeched, thinking that he may have actually gotten hired by a murder factory.  

  
“Don’t worry brat, it’s a titan meatball.”  

  
Eren tilted his head. “Huh?”  

  
“We can make it so that the flesh doesn’t evaporate for a few hours,” Levi tilted his head to mimic the brunet and blinked slowly. “I’m feeding it to my babies.”

 

 _What?!_ Eren was speechless. 

 

“OUR babies!” Hange chimed in from the back of the room.

  
Levi rolled his eyes, then tapped his index finger against the glass to regain Eren’s attention. “I’m going to be in here for a while, brat. Go hang out with your friends or something.”

  
“Alright…” Eren glanced down at the warning sign that was hovering in front of Levi’s chest and then back to the man himself, feeling worried. He laid his hands on the glass that separated them and looked at Levi with concern. “Just promise me you won’t get killed by an infectious orgasm.”

  
There was a weird choking noise, and then Levi exploded in to a violent laughing fit. He looked completely shocked as he tried to stop the sounds that were involuntarily escaping his body by raising a hand up to cover his mouth. Just before it got there, Levi saw his glove and remembered what was most likely all over it, so he clenched his hand in to a fist to stop the action. He eventually managed get himself under control by holding his breath, then looked around to assess the damage.

  
Hange, Eren and Armin were all staring at him with their mouths gaping open.

  
That was the first time Eren had ever heard Levi laugh, and it was just as perfect as he imagined it would be. _Did I do that?_ Eren had no idea what he said or did that was so funny, but he was definitely responsible for making that wonderful sound come from Levi’s… _mouth… NO!_ Eren flung himself against the door like a ravenous tarantula and pleaded with the watery silver eyes on the other side. “Levi! Take that mask off and do it again!”

 _I need to see it._ “Please!”

 

Levi closed the metal slot, went back to work and ignored the brat that was begging on his doorstep.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment & let me know what you think!


	5. Preferential Treatment

The days flew and at some point, Levi had decided that Eren was finally competent enough to step away from the sink. When they parted the previous evening, Eren was told that he would be doing something different today. Excited, he had woken up early and by some miracle of nature managed to get to the lab before Levi, so he waited giddily on his stool for the other to show up.

 

Things had been different since that night in the kitchen. Only slightly, but Eren certainly noticed it. Occasionally he would catch Levi looking at him with an unknown expression on his face, they talked a bit more, and one-time Levi had even allowed Eren to drink tea with him after work… Okay, that last one had taken a fair amount of persuasion, but he hadn’t expected that Levi would actually cave in. Eren wasn’t sure what _exactly_ was going on between them, but if the inappropriate fantasies his mind had been cooking up recently were anything to go by, he had a pretty good idea.

 

He heard footsteps approaching and turned to the door just in time to see Levi walk in, his _don’t-even-fucking-talk-to-me_ demeanor perfectly intact. Eren received a somewhat surprised look from him, which in Levi’s case was his eyes widening by about half a millimetre, and it was probably due to someone being here before him for once. And _Eren_ , of all people.  

 

Opting to ignore the brat, Levi silently went about setting up some equipment. He neatly organised various items on top of the bench and positioned them just-so, everything in a perfectly straight line with the labels facing out. Once he found the arrangements acceptable, he finally approached Eren. “Put these on.”    

   
“Good morning to you, too.” Eren quipped before looking at the small bundle Levi was holding out to him. He took it and begun inspecting the items, a huge shit-eating grin spreading across his face as he did.

 

 

Eren finally had a white coat and snappy gloves.

 

 

He jumped off the stool, flung the coat around himself and pushed his arms into the sleeves. Eren played with the pair of gloves for a moment, rubbing the stretchy material between his fingers and was surprised by how they felt, and then put them on... or at least he tried to. It was apparently a lot more difficult than Levi made it look, because the latex was sticking to his skin and he couldn’t get his fingers into their allocated holes. Eren flapped his hands around in the air and when that didn’t help, he started frantically wiggling his fingers, immediately getting distracted and laughing at how ridiculously long they looked with the gloves hanging off them. _Salad-fingers, anyone?_  

 

Levi looked unimpressed, then raised a hand up to pinch his bridge of his nose. “You’re supposed to wash your hands first, dumbass.”

  
Eren gaped at him. “Why didn’t you say that before?”

  
“I didn’t have a chance to,” Levi’s full attention was now on Eren hands, a scowl gracing his features as he glared at the tangled mess like it had personally offended him. It probably had. “Here.”

  
Eren squeaked in surprise when Levi reached out and grabbed his hands, twisting and pulling the latex into its proper place. Thinking it would be a good idea to tease him, Eren started wiggling his fingers again in the other man’s grasp, feeling proud of himself when he heard Levi growl in frustration as he tried to forcefully tug the gloves on to the squirming appendages. He giggled at how absurd this must look and the fact that Levi had actually resigned himself to doing this, and- “OW! You pinched me?!”

  
“That’s the punishment for being a shitty brat.”  

  
“You’re so mean.” Ignoring the lingering sting on his skin, Eren turned towards a pane of glass to take in his appearance and was thrilled to see that the he and Levi were now matching. Although, Levi always wears blue gloves, and his are white… Did he give Eren the cheap shitty ones? He looked down at his now properly-gloved hands, flexed his fingers experimentally and decided it didn’t matter. He immediately started pulling the latex away from his skin and letting to snap back in to place, trying to replicate the cool sound Levi always made to get his attention.  

  
While he was focused on the task, Levi washed his hands and easily slipped his own pair on. He stared at the brat, who continued to ignore him, so Levi sighed and pulled on his own glove to effortlessly produce the sound Eren was struggling with.

  
Bright eyes flew to over him with wonder. “That! How do you do that?”

  
“Just get the fuck over here!”

 

The stern command made Eren forget about his quest for snappiness and he quickly flew over to Levi’s side, which was currently his favourite place to be. He looked down and examined the objects sitting on the bench in front of them, which included an assortment of test-tubes, several liquid-filled containers and a hand-held device that he’d seen Levi use quite frequently.

 

“This is called a pipette,” Levi picked up the device. “It’s sucks up a specific volume of liquid”

  
“Woah… How does it work?”

  
“You don’t need to know the mechanics, but using it is simple. Press down the button on the top until you feel resistance, put it in the liquid, and then slowly release the button. Then press it all the way down again to eject the contents. Watch”

  
Eren’s eyes tracked Levi’s hand while he demonstrated how to use it, helpfully explaining each step again as he did. Then after a brief moment of hesitation, he passed it over to Eren and let him fiddle around with it. Eren noticed that Levi was looking at the device with weird expression, somewhere between longing and concern, but decided to ignore it.

  
“Got it, brat?”

  
“I think so, but… what do you mean by resistance?”

And it was the best thing Eren had ever said.

 

The warmth returned as Levi reached out and caressed his hand, wrapping his own around it as his thumb gingerly came to rest on top of Eren’s. They stood like that for several seconds, during which time Eren decided that he now _hated_ stupid gloves for selfishly keeping the other man’s skin from his own, then Levi applied a gentle pressure and slowly pushed their thumbs down. It seemed like this demonstration was taking longer than necessary, but Eren sure as hell wasn’t going to complain about it. Eventually he felt something stopping them from descending any lower, so Eren turned his head to Levi and found his favourite pair of gunmetal eyes already staring back at him.

  
“Do you feel it?” Levi’s voice was low and husky.

 _  
Oh, I’m feeling something alright._ Eren nodded, and he was not ashamed to admit that he almost let out an involuntary whimper when Levi’s hand let go and retreated to rest at his side again. Well, then… That was definitely the high-light of Eren’s week, and he wondered if he should push his luck by asking to be shown a second time.  

  
“You-” Levi abandoned his sentence and maintained eye contact for a moment, then cleared his throat and whipped out a sheet of paper from an undisclosed location. “Right. Here are the instructions, it says how much of what to put in each test-tube. Think you can handle that, brat?”

 _  
Anything for you, my gorgeous wizard._ Eren paused for a second to make sure he hadn’t accidentally said that out loud and was assured that he hadn’t when he didn’t feel a fist flying into his face. He smiled, “Sure.”

 

 

It wasn’t as fun as Eren imagined it would be, the repetitive action of moving his thumb up and down quickly losing its lustre, but it sure as hell beat doing the dishes all day and getting his skin wrinkly. There was a brief moment of excitement when Levi lit a small fire on the other side of the room, Eren had really wanted to ask what it was for, but he knew that Levi would probably just grunt and wave dismissively. He was exhausted by the time he had finished everything on his sheet, so he took off his coat and snappy gloves, proud that he didn’t need assistance removing them, and returned to his stool. He watched lazily as Levi fussed about with some jars and glass plates, assembling them in an orderly fashion around his cute little campfire.

 

Levi picked up a little glass stick with a bent end and dunked it into a jar of clear liquid. The action caught Eren’s interest, so he perked up and watched closely. Levi casually passed the glass rod through the fire, and the whole thing suddenly ignited like a with a hot blue flame.

  
“Woah, awesome! What is that?!”  

  
“Huh?” Levi replied eloquently as he watched the fire burn out, then glanced over at Eren. “Oh, that’s how you sterilise it. You use ethanol so that you don’t need to hold it in the fire for too long.”

  
“Wow!” Eren leapt off the stool and charged towards an unsuspecting Levi, arms reaching out to grab the magic fire wand. “I want to try it!”    

  
“What? No!” Levi narrowly escaped the initial swipe and held the rod in the air, which proved to be a useless strategy since Eren was taller than him and almost managed to take it. Moving on to Plan B, he hid it behind his back and began spinning in circles to keep it out of the brat’s filthy clutches.

  
“Please! It looked so cool” He latched on to Levi’s shoulder to hold the man still, successfully stopping his rotations.  

  
“Get the hell off me, brat!” Levi groaned and struggled as long arms snaked around him and tried to pry his own away from his back. He felt like a captain going down with a sinking ship. “I said no! You’re a fucking fire hazard!”

  
“I’ll be careful, I promise.” Eren put on his very best sad-puppy pouting face and fluttered his lashes, shifting his head so that Levi could get a proper eyeful of his display. “Pleeeease, Levi…”

  
“Uhh…” Levi’s resistance began to falter as he processed the fact that they had ended up in a contorted hugging position, Eren’s arms wrapped firmly around his torso and his free arm pushing on the brat’s shoulder. Then he saw those pleading, bright turquoise eyes… and crumbled. _Almost._ “You can stand next to me while I do it, but only if you can manage to stay still for one god damn minute.”

  
The offer brought Eren back to his senses and he urgently withdrew his trespassing arms. “Um… yeah,” He worried his lip, now feeling guilty about his impulsive behaviour and the fact that he had just latched on to Levi like a starving leech. “If that’s okay? You don’t need to do a second one just for me”

  
Levi scoffed. “Are you kidding, brat?” He removed the glass rod from behind his back, held it up to Eren’s surprised face and booped him on the nose with it. “I can’t use this anymore. It’s fucking filthy.”

 

* * *

 

  
When the fire show was finished, and the glass rod used for its intended purpose, Levi announced that he had somewhere else to be and that they were done in the lab for today. With nothing else to fill the time, Eren suggested that he could stay behind to clean up, and the appreciative look Levi gave him for it had made his heart soar. And then Eren was back at the fucking sink, talk about questionable life choices. _Totally worth it though_. Eventually he grew bored of polishing the metal instruments and decided to take a break to go see Mikasa.

 

It was her birthday today, but she always hated people fussing over her and making a big deal of it, so Eren had simply given her a hug in the morning and that had been that, but he still felt like he should go pay her a visit. He headed over to the residential building where Mikasa usually had lunch and was surprised to see his friends sitting at a table with Hange and Petra, and Oluo standing off to the side. Secret gossip meeting, perhaps?

 

Petra was the first to notice him loitering in the door way. “Eren, come on in!” 

  
“Hey guys,” Eren greeted and approached the table, a mischievous smile appearing on his face at the thought of pissing off his sister. “I just came by to make sure Mikasa was enjoying her birthday”

  
Mikasa spun around so fast that her hair flew over her face, enraged eyes boring holes in to Eren’s head from between the dark strands, overall looking awfully reminiscent of The Grudge. Any normal person would have probably shat themselves at the sight, but he was used to it. Besides, Eren had built up a pretty sturdy glare-tolerance from spending so much time with the King of Vexation. 

  
“WHAT?!” Hange bounced off the chair and clapped their hands together in excitement. “It’s your birthday?! Why didn’t you say so!”

  
“I don’t like making a big deal out of it,” Mikasa supplied in the usual dull tone as she pushed her hair back into place.  “Please don’t mention it again”

  
Hange visibly deflated, arms flopping back to their sides as they pouted. “Awww man, that sucks. I was so ready to party”

  
“So Hange,” Armin piped up, taking advantage of the momentary silence. “What were you talking about before?”

  
“OH, yes! My important announcement!” Everyone watched as Hange flung themselves on to the table, moved in to a strange pose and held their arms out like a Wall-Preacher on Sunday. “Dun-duh-duh-DUN! My new research just got approved!”

  
“Yes!” Armin jumped out of his seat and fist pumped, a startling sight that Eren had never seen before in his entire life.

  
Clearly, he has been infected by whatever brain parasite Hange has been harbouring.

  
“Wow, that’s great!” Petra clapped.

  
“Yeah… congrats,” Oluo droned sarcastically from the wall he was currently trying to be chill on, arms crossed and looking very much like a massive dick.  

  
Eren shot him a dirty look. He had started gossiping with Petra over breakfast, and she had recently bitched to him about how this Oluo guy was trying to rip-off Levi’s personality. Eren understood wanting to improve yourself and that you might pick up mannerisms from someone you spend a decent amount of time with, but if what Petra said was true, which he’s pretty damn sure it is, this is intentional imitation. It’s insulting, he portrays Levi as a completely uncaring asshole, which Eren knows for a fact that he isn’t. Oluo may be replicating his general demeanor, but he has none of Levi’s substance. _Jack-ass._ Eren sighed, decided to move on from the thought and looked back up at Hange, who was still celebrating on the table and glancing around expectantly. “So, what is it?”

  
Hange squealed and spun around on their toes. “THANKYOU, EREN! I was waiting for something to ask!”

  
That much was obvious.

  
“Alright! So, as we all know, titans gain energy from sunlight, right? We’ve looked in to it before and found that the mechanism is striking similar to photosynthesis, almost identical! I dunno why that is, but that doesn’t matter right now,”

  
Hange paused to look around again and if Eren had to guess, it was to make sure someone was actually listening to them. Which he was, sort of… It wasn’t like he had a choice. He prompted them again, “Go on…”

  
“Yes! So, I’m thinking, if I can create a mutant variant, I might be able to downregulate or even disrupt the photosynthetic pathway!” Hange’s eyes were hysterical, rapidly switching between everyone’s faces as if they expected someone to share in their insanity. “It’ll take time, sure! It probably won’t work, sure! But it might.” They looked at the ceiling and tapped their chin. “Hmm… I’ve still got to puzzle this out though, I need to decide whether I should find some kind of vector to distribute the mutation, or if I should focus on creating a compound to induce mutagenesis in the target genes.”

  
“Could you dumb that down, please?” Eren laughed and scratched his head. All he heard was, _blah blah blah titans are plants._

  
“They’re trying to find a way to stop titans from turning sunlight in to energy, or at least slow down the process,” Armin clarified.

  
Eren looked at Armin, then back to Hange. From what Eren understands, that would mess up the titan’s main energy source. Even if they only slowed it down, it would probably affect how much they can move around. “Huh… so that would mea-“

  
“YES! Titan potatoes!” Hange pulled on their hair and grinned like a serial killer.    

  
“Not what I was going to say,” Eren looked around for help, but all he got was Mikasa shrugging and Petra waving for him to continue. “but… sure?”

  
“I can’t wait to see how it goes,” Armin smiled up at Hange, then turned his attention to Eren. “So what’s Levi working on?”

  
What _is_ Levi working on? Eren’s seen him doing heaps of crazy things, but he doesn’t know what most of it means. He briefly wondered if Levi liked looking at microscopic things all day because it made him feel taller, but promptly filed it away in his brain under _‘stupid things to never ever say out loud’._ He’s got quite a collection. “Um… I don’t actually know, but he had me using something called a pipette today,” Eren said.

  
“What?!” Armin screeched and smacked his hand down on the table, successfully startling Eren yet again with his outburst. Seriously, what had Hange done to him? “He’s letting you actually do stuff? I’m still on washing duty! Hange, I thought you were cooler than him?”

 _  
_Eren suddenly felt pretty smug. Armin’s still doing dishes, huh? He’s super smart, if anyone should be trusted in a laboratory environment, it’s definitely him. Eren had assumed that he was the only one still doing that boring stuff, but it turns out Levi had been pretty lax with him. He’ll have to thank him for it later.

  
“Wuh?” Hange gawked down at Armin’s distressed face. “No! Don’t be sad my little gold-star coconut, I’ll have something super cool for you to do soon!” They spun around and gave Eren a suspicious look. “You’re not screwing around with him, are you?”

  
“What? No!” Eren panicked. “It’s not like that! We-”

  
“Woah! Chill out, Eren. I’m kidding, I know you wouldn’t lie just to mess with Armin. It’s just that Levi hates people touching his stuff, so it’s hard to believe that he would even let you get within ten metres of his precious pipette, let alone _touch_ it!” Hange hands raised skyward, begging the gods for an answer to life’s newest mystery. “What has happened to my grumpy little munchkin?!”

  
“Uhh…” Eren’s eyes darted around nervously, disregarding the pissed-off look Petra was dishing out in his direction. He was glad that he hadn’t accidentally blown his own cover with that misunderstanding, but this conversation is taking a dangerous turn for the worst. He _really_ didn’t want to talk about Levi showing him preferential treatment, because then they would be delving in to _why_ he might be doing that, and Eren wasn’t even sure himself. It’s probably not a good idea to bring it up in a room full of super-smart people who can easily psychoanalyse his entire life. _Time for a tactical deflection._ “Hange, do you know what he’s working on?”

  
“Of course, I do!” Hange took the bait and finally clambered down from the table, then went to stand next to a displeased Mikasa and rested their elbow on her shoulder. “He’s making some kind of flesh-eating mini-monstrosity. That’s why we were hacking up Saul’s foot meat the other day!”

  
“Saul’s… what?”

  
“Foot meat!”

 

  
Is Eren the only sane person in this place? Even Armin seems to have lost the plot from too much Hange-exposure, and Levi is the human embodiment of Grumpy Cat. The only relatively normal person left is Mikasa, and that’s saying something. Back to the conversation at hand… maybe that flesh-eating thing is what Levi had meant when he said he was feeding titan meatballs to his babies? Also, that was fucking creepy. Why does Eren like him again?   

 

“Hey, what’s that?”

 

Eren snapped out of his thoughts when Petra spoke and hopelessly looking around for what she might be talking about, but found nothing out of ordinary. And then he heard it, the distinct and all-too-familiar sound that had everyone in the room instinctually cowering in fear; Levi’s wrath.   

  
Everyone except Hange, of course. They bolted over to the window and smacked their hands flush against the glass, bouncing excitedly on their feet as they peered out. “Ooooo~! Shit’s going _down_!” Hange announced and started fiddling with the window lock.

  
Armin started approaching. “What going on?” 

  
With the lock taken care of, they promptly flung it open and almost fell out trying to get a better look. “Oh, _DAMN_!” Hange’s upper half dangled out the window, legs splayed open and latched on to the walls, just barely preventing themselves from falling out and face-planting in to the ground. “It’s 2v3, Eyebrows and Short-Stack versus the Military Police! My moneys on the home team!”

  
They all rushed over to window, squishing around and trying to get a good view. It was over-crowded so Petra, Oluo and Armin rushed in to the kitchen to find another vantage point, good riddance shitty lab-3 people. Eren could see a group of people standing outside the lab building, arms flailing as they argued loudly. He quickly realised that Hange had been correct, and that Erwin and Levi were indeed in the middle of a showdown with three MP soldiers.

 

“This is an outrage!” Erwin’s voice boomed clearly as he pointed a large threatening finger at those who dared to defy him, and Eren felt himself shrink even though it wasn’t directed anywhere near him. “I demand to speak to your superiors!”

  
“No way! Just get over it and back off,” One of the MPs stepped closer, eying them both up. “I didn’t come here to deal with your crap!”

  
“Cry me a river, you insolent shit-head,” Levi said with his usual eloquence.

  
“You wanna go, shorty?!”

  
“That won’t be necessary,” Erwin held his hands out and attempted to step between them, but it was too late. That guy had already said the thing.

  
“I’ll punch you so hard your teeth will shoot out your fucking asshole!”

  
“Fuck you!” The MP suddenly lunged forward and tackled Levi to the ground, throwing a few swings that Levi tried to defend against by raising his arms up. It was impossible to tell if any of the attacks made contact from where Eren was standing, but the fact they might’ve was seriously tempting him to rush out there and snap the guy’s neck.

  
After a short struggle, Levi managed to flip the man on to his back and rolled on top of him, and then there was a loud smack as he proceeded to punch the asshole square in the face, just as promised.  

 

“Woooo!” Hange hollered out the window. “Fuck _yeah_! Kick his ass!”

 

“That’s enough!” Erwin grabbed Levi under the arms and pulled him off the MP, who now had blood smeared over his face and what appeared to be a broken nose. It was hard to tell, but Eren hoped so. The situation was defused rather quickly after that, the MPs scurrying away with their tails between their legs as Erwin commanded them to go crawl back under their respective rocks.

 

“Aww, what?!” Hange went limp and drooped to the floor. “And it was just getting good, too”

  
Eren watched in shock as Erwin and a hopefully unscathed Levi talked quietly between themselves and disappeared inside, then spun around to stare at the melted pool of crazy-scientist at his feet. “What the hell was that? Who were those guys?”

  
“A bunch of douche-muffins,” Hange sighed, pushing their glasses up their nose. “The MPs don’t like what we’re doing, think it’s a waste of time, mainly because they wanna steal our funding. It’s not just us either, the bastards are going after the whole Survey Crops. They come here pretty often though, probably assuming that we’ll be a bunch of nerdy push-overs.”

 _  
The fuck?_ Eren doesn’t understand much about the complexities of politics, but he’s pretty damn sure that is not how it’s supposed to work. That jerk deserved a broken nose. “Do you think Levi’s okay?”

  
“Pfft, yeah,” They waved dismissively. “He’s a tough cookie! Besides, it looked like that guy barely managed to touch him. I doubt they landed a single punch”  

 _  
They better not have..._ Eren turned back to the window and rapidly scanned the premises with narrowed eyes, checking for any trace of the newest addition to his shit-list. _I’ll whack him in the balls with a cactus._

  
Mikasa grunted from the shadowy corner she was hiding in. “Those assholes better not come back.”

  
“They always do,” Hange began fiddling with a loose strand of dark hair. “Must really love getting their faces punched in. I should’ve climbed out the window and got one in myself”  

  
Both thinking the same thing, Eren and Mikasa made a unified sound of approval. Armin came running back from the kitchen with wide eyes, the other two dawdling behind him. “I can’t believe that just happened!”

  
“Good thing Levi’s so strong.” Petra giggled behind her hand.

  
“Whatever,” Mikasa flicker her hair as she crossed her arms. “I could kick his ass.”

  
“Righty-ho then!” Hange grabbed on to the window frame and pulled themselves off the floor, voice miraculously undamaged from their previous screaming. “This sure was fun, but it’s time to get back to work! You can stay here Armin, I’m heading to the dungeon of doom for a while.”

  
“Have fun,” Armin held his hand up as Hange passed by and received a painfully loud high-five.  

 

Eren watched as they all filed out of the room, then walked over to the table to claim one of the now empty seats. It’s rare for him to get time alone with his best friend these days, since they work apart and are usually too exhausted to have a conversation afterwards. And on the rare occasion that they’re not too tired, they still share a room with Mikasa and lord knows you need to be careful about what you say around her. One sniff of trouble and she’ll hunt down the information like a blood hound, which is the last thing he needs right now. Armin followed and pulled out a chair next to him, and when he sat down Eren thoughtlessly blurted the first thing that came to his mind. “Do you think Petra likes Levi?”

  
“How should I know?” Armin replied and reached out to grab the glass of water he had left on the table, taking a tentative sip.

  
“I’ve just noticed a few things, that’s all... I thought you might’ve as well.”

  
“You should ask Mikasa, she works with her,” Armin placed the glass back down on the table and started rotating it between his fingers. “Why do you want to know, anyways?”  

 _  
Damn it Armin, you nosy coconut_. “Just curious,” Eren answered simply, but then blue eyes started analysing his face and he felt compelled to elaborate before Armin arrived at his own conclusion. “Um… I’ve just never heard Levi talk about her or anything like that, so I was thinking it would probably be awkward if she tried something.”  

  
Armin hummed and looked back at his water. “I doubt that means much though, he doesn’t seem like the type of guy that would openly discuss his personal life. You never know what’s going on behind closed doors and all that.”

  
“Wait, so you think there’s _actually_ something going on?” Eren leaned forward, staring at his friend like he had the answers to life itself.

  
“I already told you, I don’t know.” Armin let out an exhausted sigh. “All I’m saying is that you shouldn’t assume something isn’t true just because you can’t see it. Just like science.”

  
Eren’s eyebrows knitted together. “What do you mean by that?”

  
“I mean, absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence,” Armin waved his hand in the air like a smartass, then looked at the brunet with gentle eyes. “And it’s also none of our business.”

  
“Hah, yeah… I guess it’s not,” Eren said. He looked down at Armin’s glass, watching the water lick at the sides as the blonde continued moving it around.

 

Eren sure felt like it was his damn business.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought of this chapter!


	6. Be Casual

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just realised this has over 100 kudos! Thank you! <3

_Levi is so fucking attractive._ It was the one and only thought Eren’s useless brain seemed capable of formulating. It’s not a new development, Eren’s always thought that. But Levi hadn’t worn his lab coat today since he was only doing paper work, which meant that Eren had hours upon hours to appreciate how hot he looked in that perfectly fitted white button-up shirt. The sleeves were folded up and exposing his well-defined forearms, and the top button was undone so that when he occasionally leant forward, Eren could _almost_ get a peek down the front. _Damn._ How does Levi keep so fit when he spends the majority of his time sitting at a microscope? He doesn’t seem to sleep much, so maybe he works out in his room at night… Eren would love to see that.

 

Eren hadn’t been completely sure that he was in to guys before coming here, no one had caught his interest in Shiganshina, but he had his suspicions. He’d messed around with a few girls back home, before they were eaten by titans of course, and had honestly found the experiences sub-par at best. But it hadn’t been terrible or anything… so does that mean he likes both? Who knows. Eren’s seen enough shit to know that life is a whirlwind of craziness and all you can hope to do is hold on for the ride. If his body gets turned on by a sexy science guy, who’s he to argue?

 

And it certainly does.  

 

He had recently started reading some of the books inside, mainly out of boredom, and something that had stuck in his head was, _“beauty, like light refracted from snow”_. It reminded him of Levi; pale and cold and captivating, but also capable of burning the shit out of you. Eren’s attention shifted to Levi’s hand and found himself mesmerised by the tendons on the back of it, watching them tense and undulate as Levi slowly spun the pencil between his nimble fingers. Was this heaven or hell? Either was believable at this point.

 

 

  
The spinning pencil came to an abrupt stop. Levi looked up from his papers and spoke in an emotionless tone. “Stop staring at me.”

 _  
Shit._ Eren was trying to be discreet, but he had forgotten that Levi is exceptionally observant. He cleared his throat and prayed that his voice would come out steady. “I was… looking at your hand. Does it hurt?”

  
Levi’s eyes fell to his hand and he frowned at the small bandage there. He moved it to rest on his lap, concealed underneath the bench, and looked back down to read over his work. “No.”

  
Eren nervously sucked on the inside of his cheek. He knew it was blatantly obvious that his hand wasn’t the only part of Levi’s body he had been staring at, but if Levi wasn’t going to mention it then neither was he. Eren was legitimately curious about the injury though, he had an idea of what it was from, but that was days ago. Although… Levi usually wears gloves, so maybe that’s why he hadn’t noticed earlier. He decided to push on despite the curt response. “Is it from punching that guy in the face?”

  
“You saw that?” Levi didn’t look up, but Eren noticed that his pupils had stopped their rapid side-to-side motion; he wasn’t reading anymore, just staring at the paper.

  
“Yeah, everyone did.” Eren saw a thin black eyebrow move ever so slightly. He had been getting pretty good at reading Levi’s micro-expressions, so he was fairly confident that the almost undetectable twitch had been conveying annoyance. Eren couldn’t guess what the cause was, though. “He had it coming. Hange told me what those assholes are up to, and he insulted you.”

  
Levi sighed as his hand emerged from its hiding spot. He laid it on the bench and gently ran a finger along the bandage. “It barely broke the skin,” Silver eyes flicked up to meet Eren’s again. “It’s almost healed. I’m only wearing this disgusting thing because there could be some shitty bacteria lurking around the lab.”

  
“Oh, okay. I’m glad you’re not hurt.” He smiled sincerely, and Levi stared at him for several seconds before turned back to his work without giving a response. Eren wondered where exactly the evil germs that wanted to get under Levi’s perfect skin might be hiding, how in the holy hell they managed to survive his twice-daily bleach disinfection, and how Eren could go about destroying them as quickly as possible. They’re probably taking refuge in the sink _. It’s always the fucking sink_. “Do you want me to do anything? I could clean some more.”

  
“No,” Levi pulled a sheet of paper out of the pile and placed it on the side. “You can leave.”

 

Eren pursed his lips, surprised that his offer had been turned down and not sure what to say next. He didn’t feel like leaving… but Levi seemed to be in a strange mood today. He concluded that it would probably be safest to just do as he’s told, and then decided to do the opposite simply because the safe route is usually pretty boring. And if Eren is known for one thing, it’s pushing the boundaries.

  
  
Eren marched towards the corner of the room, ignoring the invisible daggers that were stabbing in to his back the entire way, and reached out to grab a big fat biology book from a cabinet. He headed back towards Levi, whose glare had now morphed in to a look that was half confusion and half _“you don’t have the fucking balls”_. Eren dropped the book on to the bench with a loud thud, took a seat right next to Levi and turned to look at him with an innocent expression. “What?”

  
“I told you to leave.”

  
“You said that I could, not that I had to.” Eren swallowed nervously. He could almost feel his blood boiling from the intensity of Levi’s glare, it was like a fucking laser beam of condensed loathing. “I’d rather stay here, with you.”

  
The raging emotion in Levi’s eyes softened in to something that Eren thought might’ve been fondness, then he turned away. “You’re such a fucking brat.”

  
Eren smiled at the use his nickname and having gotten the result that he wanted. He confidently flipped open his new book, only to groan loudly because he didn’t recognise half of the words. Eren slumped down in defeat and covered his face with his hands. 

  
“What’d you expect?”  

  
He bought his hands down and rested the side of his head on the bench, facing Levi, his chocolate mop of hair providing excellent cushioning. Eren smirked at him. “Oh, I don’t know… maybe English?”

  
And there the brat went being all adorable again. Levi laughed quietly in his mouth as he took in the sight, and then went back to writing.

 

Eren decided to at least try to read the cryptic book, mostly because he didn’t want to surrender either his place next to Levi or the close-up view of his delicious arms. Eren watched him write for as long as he dared, which honestly wasn’t very long since he didn’t want to be told off for it again, then he sat up and flipped through the pages until he found something readable; a chapter about cell structure. It seemed basic enough for him to understand, mostly just labels of each part with their respective definitions and functions. It even included a few helpful diagrams and a glossary for the educationally impaired. _Neat._

 

 

It took about half an hour for Eren to finish the riveting chapter, and by the end he was pleased to say that he could remember at least a few random facts. Who knew that those crazy little guys did so much work? Not him. And who knew that the mitochondria was the powerhouse of the cell? Absolutely no one.  
  
  
Eren yawned and raised his arms up to lethargically stretch out his muscles, enjoying the feeling after sitting still for so long, but he got a strange sensation half way through. Glancing to the side, he met intrigued silver eyes for about half a second before Levi promptly turned back to his work.

 _  
Wait… was he just checking me out?_ Eren’s pulse quickened at the thought and he felt himself blushing slightly. He bravely decided to turn his head away to feign ignorance and go for another stretch, making it as slow and languid as he possibly could. He raised his arms up again, tensing his muscles as he arched back, and even threw in a sensual moan for good measure. Eren was sure that he could feel someone watching him again, so he held the position for a moment to ensure that Levi could get a proper eyeful of his poised body. When the show was finished, he looked back over to check the reaction.

  
 

Levi was staring at him, having caught on to the obviously intentional display and had enjoyed every second of it. Who could turn down an invitation like that? He swallowed. “You must be tired.”

  
“Just stretching. Why, are you?” Eren saw his eyes narrow in annoyance, and quickly realised his mistake. “Oh right, sorry. I feel awake, although it’s pretty late now. Huh, is insomnia contagious?”

  
“No, but I’m worried your stupidity might be.”

  
“Wow, you’re so funny,” Eren rolled his eyes and smiled, then tried to get a peek at what Levi had previously been giving all his attention to. “What’re you doing, anyways?”

  
“These are the results from some recent tests I’ve done,” Levi watched the brunet’s expression change in to one of keen interest, so he flicked the edge of the paper and continued. “These giant assholes don’t seem to have anything even resembling an immune system, except for the bodily regeneration I suppose. It makes me wonder why nothing has specialised to them yet.”

  
Eren was beyond interested. Levi had never talked to him about this stuff before and Eren knew that he enjoyed it. He did his best to pay close attention and absorb every word, and even decided to try his hand at semi-intelligent conversation. “Is that what usually happens?”

  
“Basically. Every species has some shit that goes after it, and it’s even more surprising since titans are essentially mobile flesh factories.”

  
“Huh…” Eren looked down at the bench and thought about it for a few seconds. “That is weird.”

  
Levi curiously examined his profile. “You understand what I mean?”

  
“I think so… from a microbe’s point of view, titans are just walking mountains of potential food. So, it doesn’t make sense that nothing has, like… evolved to infect them.” He looked back at Levi, seeking confirmation. “Yeah?”

  
“Yeah, something like that. We’re doing analyses to find out if the flesh even has any nutritional value, that could have something to do with it.” Levi sighed and looked down at the papers. “It’s fucked, they go against the very laws of nature and it pisses me off.”

  
Eren hummed his agreement, and then his brain must’ve finally woken up because it suddenly hurled an idea at him. “Wait, Hange said that you were working on some kind of flesh-eating thing. How does that work if they can regenerate so quickly?” 

  
“Damn shitty glasses,” Levi scowled and pinched the bridge of his nose. Once his fit of frustration had passed, he looked back over at Eren. “No. The only viable option is something that will attack the central nervous system, since that’s the only fucking thing those behemoths actually have going for them.”

  
“So, we get something to attack the nape for us?” Eren thought it was amazing, and he could tell by the look in his burning silver eyes that Levi was excited about too.

  
“That’s the idea. I also want to see if I can…” Levi trailed off. He schooled his expression back to his bored and emotionless resting bitch-face, then turned towards at the doorway. “What do you want?”

 

Eren was incredibly confused, but his questions were answered when he saw bloody Petra pop her head in to the room and smile brightly.

 

She looked straight at Levi, blatantly ignoring that Eren even existed. “Oh, nothing. I just realised that you were still in here, it’s pretty late so I thought I’d come by and see if you needed help with anything.”

  
Levi slowly blinked at her, unable to muster up even a scrap of interest. “No, I don’t.”

  
“Are you sure? Cause I’m free and happy to help.” Another sweet smile.

  
“If I needed something done, I would have Eren do it.” Levi was starting to get pissed off. “That is literally what he’s fucking here for.”

  
Eren looked at Levi, surprised that he had actually used his name, and then back to Petra. Just in time to catch the stink-eye she was giving him… Apparently she did know that he was in the room, who would’ve guessed?

  
“But I can do things for you that he can’t,” Petra looked back to Levi with desperate eyes. “You can trust me with important stuff.”

  
“There’s nothing for you to do.” Levi disregarded her and picked up his papers, pretending to read again so that she would hopefully take the hint and leave them alone.

  
“Oh, okay, that’s fine! Let me know if you ever need me, I’m always happy to help you out.”

  
Levi sighed and held the papers higher up, covering his face with them. “You’ve already said that.”

  
“Yeah, just making sure you know. I’ll see you later then.” Petra smiled at him again, even though all Levi could currently see was his own flawless handwriting, and then shot Eren one final bitch-glare before disappearing back into the dark abyss.

 

Eren watched the door way to make sure she wasn’t hovering, and then whistled lowly. “Well that was uncomfortable.”

  
Levi made a _tch_ sound and slapped the papers back down on to the bench. A little too roughly it seemed, because he immediately frowned and picked them up again.  

 

Okay, this was the perfect opportunity for Eren to do some digging. He side-glanced at Levi, who was calmly reorganising his stack of notes that were messed up from assaulting the bench, and tried to come up with a plan. He just needed to approach it subtly and act like it wasn’t a big deal; just a passing thought, just a friendly enquiry, certainly not something he had been obsessing over for days on end. Yeah, just play it cool. _Come on Eren, be casual._ “So… you’re not fucking her, then?”

  
   
_You are a colossal failure._  
  
 

The organised pile fell out of Levi’s fingers and he looked legitimately shocked for a brief moment before he quickly pulled himself together. “Have you been huffing bleach fumes? Why in the actual living fuck would you ask me something like that?”

  
“Just… wondering,” Eren bit the inside of his cheek as self-punishment for his horrible question and tried to think of a way to recover the situation, but he realised that there was no other option now except to just roll with it. “Why are you avoiding the question?”

  
“I’m not.”

  
“It kinda sounds like you are.”

  
“No, you fucking idiot.” Levi’s jaw clenched. “I meant that I’m not having sex with her, holy shit.”

  
“Ohh…” Eren sucked on his bottom lip and rhythmically tapped his fingers on the surface of the bench, the quiet thumping the only sound in the room.

  
“Well, you should’ve been more specific.”

 

  
  
Silence.

  


_Wow, this is so awkward._ Eren’s eyes scanned the room, hoping for the first time in his life that Hange or someone else would leap out of the cupboard and steal him away. When no one came to his rescue, he risked a quick glance at Levi out of corner of his eye. He was staring straight at the wall with a vacant expression, most likely traumatised from the conversation.

  
“So, um… I’m just gonna… go. Bye.” Eren hopped out of his chair and glanced down at the huge hard-cover textbook, then quickly scooped it up in his arms and hightailed it towards the exit. Stopping in the door way to look back over his shoulder, he was startled when he saw Levi watching him and bolted out of the room.

 

He slowed down once he was in the clear, and leisurely strolled down the hall. Well, that didn’t exactly go the way he planned, but at least he got the answer he wanted. Although he probably should had phrased it better, the fact that they’re not sleeping together doesn’t necessarily mean that nothing else is going on. But then again... Levi had seemed downright appalled by the suggestion, revolted even, so it’s probably safe to assume that it’s completely one-sided. That doesn’t bother him; Petra can look all she wants, so long as she keeps her hands to herself.

 

Eren came to a stop and re-assessed his thoughts. What was wrong with him? It’s not like he’s with Levi or anything, he had no right to be thinking that way. Eren did feel like there was something there, that his poor excuse for flirting was at least somewhat reciprocated, but he couldn’t really be sure. What if he saw it differently? And most importantly, does Levi even like guys? He probably shouldn’t just assume something like that. _Damn it_. He should have asked him that before, when it was already awkward as hell and couldn’t possibly get even more so. But he was sure that Levi had been checking him out earlier, twice, maybe even more when Eren wasn’t looking, so maybe…   

  
 

“Eren, are you okay?”

  
He blinked up at the voice and found Mikasa standing right in front of him, having seemingly materialised out of thin air just to nag him. “Um… yeah. Why?”

  
“Because I tried talking to you, and you just stood there staring off in to space.” Mikasa huffed in annoyance, but she dismissed the issue in favour of another. “I came to find you, you missed dinner. Where’ve you been?”

  
Why does everyone ask Eren so many questions? _Where are you, what’re you doing, why’d you eat my sandwich_ … it never ends. He examined the small specks on the wall next to him as he contemplated his excuse, and eventual settled on a half-truth. In his experience, they generally worked the best. “I was working late today. You know, cleaning and stuff.”

  
“Seriously? That asshole could’ve at least let you take a break to eat.” She ignored Eren’s displeased expression and looked him over, then crossed her arms and frowned. “Don’t tell me he gave you homework as well?”

  
“What?” Eren followed her eyes to the book he was still holding and had completely forgotten about. “Oh, no. I just think it’s interesting.”

  
“Since when?” The toe of Mikasa’s boot tapped against a floor tile impatiently.

  
“Since I decided to try it,” He glared at her foot, finding the incessant sound rather irritating, and then slipped past her to continue on his way. “Why do you care what I read? It’s just a book.”

  
She spun around and trailed behind him like his own personal thunder cloud. “It’s not like you, it’s something that Armin would like. The last time I checked, you weren’t in to that stuff.”

  
“I may as well give it a go, since I’m here.” Eren looked back at Mikasa and saw her about to make another retort, so he beat her to the punch. “Don’t complain about me trying to learn something, you’re the one who always says that I should think more. How can it be a bad thing?”

  
“I just don’t want you to feel like you need to change yourself.”

  
Eren took a deep breath as he came to a stop, then turned to meet his sister’s concerned eyes. “I don’t feel like that, I honestly just find it interesting.” He looked down at the object in question and idly ran a finger across the cover. “It’s awesome to look around and know how stuff works and why, instead of passively accepting that everything just happens because it supposed to. I don’t even know how my own body works, doesn’t that sound weird?”  

  
“I guess so.” She tightened the red scarf around her neck and sighed, then wandered off ahead of Eren. “As long as you’re doing it because you want to.”

  
“I am,” He smiled, then followed her up the stairs and outside. The moon was out and radiating a strong light, making the whole place look deceivingly bright for the hour. _What even is the time?_ In the silence of the night, Eren was shocked and mildly concerned by how loudly his stomach growled at him. “Mika, is there any food left?”

  
She nodded. “I saved some for you.”

  
“Yes, you’re the best sister ever!” Eren flung him arms around her in an awkward side-ways hug, laughing when Mikasa almost lost her balance. “Even though you’re annoying most of the time.”  

 

* * *

 

 

Once Eren’s furious stomach was appeased, he began walking with Mikasa back to their room. His body had finally crashed, giving in to the exhaustion he hadn’t known it was fighting. He never seemed to get tired when he was with Levi, probably because Eren was always so squirrely and excited around him… but trying to figure that man out certainly took a great deal of brain power. They approached their door and heard voices coming from inside. Eren sighed, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to sleep just yet, and tried to brace himself for whatever mess he was about to walk in to. As soon as he walked in to the room, there was a blur of rapid movement as Hange flew over and engulfed Eren in a suffocating hug.

 

“Eren! You cutie, I haven’t seen you since this morning!”

  
Eren tried to wiggle his arms free and pull away, but he already knew it was pointless. He huffed sharply to get an unruly strand of Hange’s hair out of his face. “That’s not even very long.”

  
Hange’s grip tightened, and Eren thought that he heard his shoulder pop out of place. They finally released him. “It is! Considering that we live and work like twenty metres from each other. Did you just get back? How’s my grumpy munchkin doing?”

  
“He’s… good.” And potentially trying to figure out a way to have Eren removed from his lab. He finally had an opportunity to look around the room and found Armin sitting on his bed, silently watching the interaction with a glum look on his face. Eren walked over to him, plopped the book down on his own bed along the way, and crawled up to sit next to the blonde. “What’s up?”

  
Armin smiled meekly and looked over at the discarded object. “Nothing. What’s that?”

  
“Just a book, I’ve decided that science is actually kinda interesting.” Eren ignored the excited squeal that erupted from the other side of the room and examined his friend. “You okay?”

  
“Yeah, I’m fine.”

  
Eren started fiddling with the blanket, noticing that it was marginally thicker than his own. Not fair. “You don’t look fine,’ He shrugged. “But it’s cool if you don’t wanna talk about it.”

  
“It’s stupid,” Armin sighed and brought the blanket up to cover his legs. “I’m just feeling a bit home sick, I guess.”

  
“Well I’m the king of stupid, and that’s definitely not stupid. Just because our home is gone, that doesn’t mean we’re not allowed to miss it.” Eren bumped his shoulder in to Armin’s and was pleased to see the blonde smile.

  
“Yeah, I guess. Do you miss it too?”

  
“Of course. I miss my house, my mum, my friends. One day everything is great and the next we’re all alone, it’s a huge adjustment. I don’t know if it’ll ever be okay, but we still have each other, and everyone here is really nice.”

  
Hange stepped up to the bat and addressed them both. “I know it’s hard, sweeties. I’m not sure how much it’ll help, but if you decide to stay here then you can do whatever you want with this room. Change it around, decorate it, make it feel less like a barracks and more like a home. We can move you in to separate rooms soon too. I know you’re all close, but it’s important to have your own space when you live with so many people.”

  
The offer sounded nice, but Eren was confused. “Why wouldn’t we stay here?”

  
“Oh, I just meant that it’s your choice.” Hange smiled and begun readjusting the messy bun on their head. “You’re not obligated to stay here, you can leave whenever you want. Of course, we want you to stay and would be sooo happy if you did. I don’t know how I’d manage without Armin helping me out!”

  
Eren wondered if Levi would think the same thing about him. It didn’t feel like he did very much to help, but he supposed that at the very least he saved Levi from having to wash the equipment himself. “Thanks, Hange. I don’t think we’ll be leaving, we all like it here. Besides, we don’t really have anywhere else _to_ go.”

  
Hange finally managed to get their hair the way they wanted it, which still looked like a bird’s nest, and then clapped their hands together. “Wonderful! Well, not the last part, but you know. I can sort out the other rooms soon, let me know if you want any help or materials to pimp this place out!”

  
Mikasa had been listening from her spot in the doorway, and suddenly heard footsteps coming up behind her. She turned around and almost bumped in to Moblit’s chest as he tried to walk in. She glared at him. “What?”

  
“Hi…” Moblit met her eyes, and he was only slightly terrified. “I came to collect Hange, hopefully they’re not causing too much trouble.”

  
Hange yelped at the sound of his voice and spun around. “I said I would be there soon! And excuse me, I’m a pure delight to be around!” Hange gasped when Moblit rolled his eyes and carried on down the hall. They turned back to Eren and Armin, and then thumped a fist to their chest in a salute. “I gotta bounce, my lab tech needs me!”

  
Armin was confused but nodded anyways, prompting Hange to spin on their heel once more and take off towards the door.

  
Feeling curious, Eren decided to let his big mouth run free once again. “Hange,” They stopped in the doorway and looked back at him. “Are you tapping that?”

  
“That, my boy…” Hange pushed up their glasses and smirked. “Is confidential.”

 

And then they flew out the door and slammed it behind them. Armin wore a surprised expression that suggested he had only just caught on, while Mikasa just looked plain disgusted. Eren laughed, at least someone was getting some action around here.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JUST KISS ALREADY!
> 
> Gimme some feedback pleeeease ~


	7. Book Club

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally some lip-locking! Like... 2 pages of it.  
> I don't have any experience writing intimate stuff (except for like, one time), so I apologise if it's crappy.  
> Let me know what you think. If you want me eventually write some smut, I probably need the reassurance.
> 
> HAHA.

Once again, they weren’t leaving the lab until well after dark. Levi had kindly reminded Eren to go have dinner this time, which he did, and then he hurried straight back. If he was getting paid for this, he would definitely be asking for a promotion by now. Eren finished cleaning up the glassware they had used during the day, put everything back in it's proper place, and then took his leave. He wandered between the buildings, glad to see the moon shining brightly among its starry friends, and then headed upstairs to get changed. He entered his new room, which was still rather bare and empty spare for the bed and dresser. Hange had been correct, it was wonderful to have his own space and not have Mikasa clinging on to him all evening. 

 

It felt like his body clock was starting to sync up with Levi’s or something, or perhaps he was simply adjusting to the late nights. Whatever the reason, Eren knew that he wouldn’t be able to sleep yet. He could practically feel himself transforming into an owl. After changing his shirt and throwing on a dark green jumper to keep himself warm, he left his room and headed down the hall. Passing Armin’s door, he noticed that it was closed and there was no light coming from underneath it. That coconut always went to sleep early, something about optimising brain function. Whatever, Eren wasn’t having any problems with his new routine.

 

 

Eren quietly made his way down the stairs, intending to continue reading the book he was in the middle of, but came to stop as he reached the bottom. A single dull lamp was barely managing to light up the room, and Levi was sitting peacefully on one of the couches. He was wearing his grey long-sleeved shirt, book in one hand and gripping a cup of tea with the other. Eren had noticed his peculiar way of holding tea cups a long time ago, but he had never questioned it. Like with most of Levi’s odd habits, there was most likely a good reason for it and he would tell Eren if he ever felt inclined to. That didn’t mean he wasn’t curious, though.  

 

Drumming his fingers against his thigh, Eren tried to decide what he should do. Things had remained slightly tense between them since Eren had so rudely enquired about his sex life… but he still caught Levi looking at him quite often, especially when he purposefully put himself in a compromising position. Eren had not-so-subtly bent over to pick something up yesterday, and Levi had definitely been staring at his ass. One might say that Eren had been intentionally teasing him over the past few days, and they would be correct. He couldn't help it now that he knew Levi was attracted to him as well, in some capacity at least. Levi doesn't give much away about what he's feeling, but the way he looked at Eren sometimes was unmistakable. And, you know, checking out his ass. 

 

He watched Levi finish off his tea, place the cup down on a nearby table and continue reading. Eren took a deep breath and decided to just jump in, so he walked over to the bookshelf and reached to where he knew his book would be. He made some noise as he retrieved it to alert Levi to his presence, even though he probably already knew. It's impossible to sneak up on that man. Eren approached the couch, and when there was no indication from Levi that he wanted to be left alone, he sat down beside him. _It’s only awkward if you make it awkward._ Eren looked to the side and watched Levi’s hand gracefully turn the page. “What’re you reading?”

  
“I forgot what it’s called,” Levi replied. He turned the book over to glance at the cover but there was no title. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter. I’ve already read everything in this shitty place.”

  
“Really?” That’s a lot of books. “So, you’re rereading them?”

  
“Yup," Levi tapped a finger against the page. "I just grab a random one, open it up, and hope for something mildly entertaining.”

  
“That sucks,” Eren looked down at the book in his own hands. That sucked big time. Levi had to resort to reading the same books over and over, presumably just to pass the extra hours he had from not being able to sleep. “You should tell Erwin to get some new ones.”

  
Levi scoffed and glanced over at Eren. “I have, brat. According to shitwin, it’s not a priority.”

  
“Then make it his priority,” He saw Levi’s eyebrow quirk in what he now recognised as curiosity, and Eren gave him a mischievous smirk. “Go on strike. No titan-eating super-bugs until our literature demands are met.”  

  
“ _Our_ demands? As far as I can tell, this is a me problem. You’ve got a whole shelf to tear through.”

  
“I’m sympathetic to your struggle,” Eren shrugged, then stared at the brown sasquatch rug on the floor. “Do you read the ones in the lab?”

  
Levi closed the book and placed it on the table. “Sometimes. I find that fiction is more interesting to reread, I’ve already memorised all the factual ones.”

  
Eren took a moment to appreciate just how much information must be squished in to Levi’s head. He was struggling to remember most of the things from the textbook he had borrowed, although he probably could learn it given enough time. But damn, there are tonnes of massive books in the lab, and Eren had chosen the simplest one. “That’s incredible. But yeah, I guess that makes sense. Fiction at least tells a story, so it probably takes longer to get boring.”

  
Levi hummed and fidgeted a little bit, then looked down and started picking specks of dust and fluff off the couch.

  
“Do you want more tea?” Eren asked to avoid the silence, already knowing that there was probably still some left since Levi usually made a whole pot.

  
“Sure.”

 

Eren got up and collected the tea cup from the table, then make his way in to the kitchen. The lamp from the other room provided just enough light for him to see where he was going, although he was pretty familiar with the building now. He found the kettle and carefully touched the back of his index finger to the side, finding it still quite hot. It must’ve been made recently. Eren decided not to have any, he’s more of a coffee guy.  

 

Once the cup was refilled, he went back and saw that Levi had barely moved an inch from his position on the couch. Eren placed the beverage down on the table, thinking that it would be difficult for Levi to take it from him with the way he holds. Levi went to pick it up, and Eren decided to take a risk by sitting closer to him this time, with their shoulders just barely touching. Eren slumped down a little bit to match his height, while Levi just sipped on his tea, either because he didn’t realise or didn’t care.

 

Eren curiously examined the slim fingers that were holding on to the rim of the cup. Now that he had successfully infiltrated Levi territory, he wasn’t sure what to do next. The silence wasn’t awkward like Eren had feared it might be, he enjoyed the warmth that pressed against his arm whenever Levi moved, and he found himself subconsciously leaning in to it. Turning his head slightly, Eren realised that he could smell Levi again. He wasn’t sure if it was some kind of product or just his natural scent, but Eren loved it.

  
It didn’t take long for Levi to finish his tea and place the cup down again, he pretty much inhales the stuff. He settled back down and sighed. “Thanks, brat.”

  
The proximity of his voice and the sudden sound made Eren flinch out of his catnap, and he realised that was all but leaning on Levi’s shoulder now.

  
Levi felt the jerky movement and turned to look him. His eyes widened slightly as if he was surprised by how close they were, then they locked with Eren’s and he swallowed. “I mean, for the… stuff.”

  
“Yeah, thanks.” It didn’t make any sense, but it was the best Eren could do with Levi staring at him like that.

  
Levi started to lean in, and Eren wondered if he might be having a heart attack. “Your eyes look more blue, this close.”

  
Eren move closer despite his health concerns, whatever was happening now was a far greater priority. “Yours too...” Their noses touched and Eren was momentarily confused about when he had closed his eyes, but he quickly forgot about it and gave the warmth against his face a timid nuzzle.

 

Levi pulled back, but Eren could tell by his breathing that he hadn’t gone far or turned away. “Probably shouldn’t…”

 

He barely heard the whisper and assumed that Levi must’ve been talking to himself, because if he was expecting Eren to defuse the situation… well, he was shit-out of luck. Eren’s eyes half-opened and he saw that Levi was just a few inches away, the sight causing his heart to beat impossibly faster. He focused and realised that Levi was staring intently at his mouth, seemingly transfixed. The attention made Eren subconsciously lick his lips, and then he watched in awe as Levi immediately mimicked the action on himself. _Damn._ Taking it as his cue to move in, Eren edged closer until their noses touched again. Levi blinked slowly before his silver eyes drifted shut and Eren quickly followed suit, brushing his nose encouragingly against Levi’s.  

 

Eren felt Levi’s nose touch his cheek, followed by a subtle pressure against his lips. It was soft and warm, and Eren eagerly pushed back against it. There was movement, and Eren’s heart stuttered in his chest as he fully processed what was happening. He started moving his own lips in response, confidence building as Levi accepted and reciprocated the actions. This was far from Eren’s first kiss, but he had never felt anything so electrifying before. Eventually Levi shifted and angled his body towards Eren, cupping his cheek and applying more force.

 

Eren was caught up in the sensation of the soft skin pressing against him, then after a while he felt Levi’s mouth slowly opening and the ghosting of teeth over his bottom lip. The tip of Levi’s tongue followed, silently asking for admittance, and Eren parted his lips to let it in without a second thought. Levi gradually worked his way in and took the lead, mainly because Eren was still dazed by the fact the he currently had a part of Levi _in_ his mouth. Once Eren regained some brain function, he moved his own tongue forward to meet Levi’s and massaged it slowly and attentively. He heard a quiet hum of approval from Levi, accompanied by a subtle vibration against his lips. Levi’s mouth was still hot from the tea he had just drunk, and Eren could taste it. It was fucking delicious.  

Please withdraw the previous statement, Eren is now officially a tea person.

 

Levi reached up with his other hand to grab a fistful of dark chocolate hair and pushed further in to his mouth, and Eren couldn’t have held back his moan even if he tried. The wanton noise spurred Levi on even more, his chest heaving erratically as he rose up from the couch to get the high-ground and tilted his head for a better angle. Feeling Levi’s weight bearing down on him, one of Eren’s hands grabbed on to couch for leverage as the other clutched the material of Levi’s shirt, and he pushed back with the same intensity. He managed to manoeuvre past the second tongue in his mouth and finally made it into Levi’s, and Eren wasted no time familiarising himself with it. He explored it as much as physically possible, noticing that the taste of tea was stronger further in, and then drew his tongue back to twist it around Levi’s. He heard Levi moan again, louder and deeper than before and with a hint desperation. Eren responded with his own sound of pleasure and continued intertwining their tongues, then whimpered as Levi suddenly withdrew. Levi panted heavily against Eren’s wet lips and then went after his mouth again, alternating between shallow kisses and softly nipping at his skin.

 

Eren was thankful for his grip on the couch, as it was the only thing keeping them both upright at this point. Although, Eren wasn’t even sure if that was a good thing or not. He wanted nothing more than to fall back and pull Levi down with him, and he was certainly interested in the activities that laying down entailed. They probably shouldn’t be doing those things in a communal living room… but the longer he made-out with Levi, the less Eren seemed to care.

 

_Fuck it._

 

Chasing Levi’s mouth, Eren grabbed his bottom lip between his teeth and sucked on it, then let it gradually slide out. It had the desired effect; Levi inhaled sharply, then recaptured Eren’s mouth and started urgently tonguing him again. Eren let go of Levi’s shirt to feel around behind him, making sure that they would indeed fall on to the couch and not tumble on to the floor, and carelessly shoved a book out of the way. When he deemed it safe, he grabbed on to Levi’s shoulder and let his other arm give way.

 

They immediately fell on to the couch with considerable force, and Eren praised himself for being careful because it would have hurt like a bitch if he had landed on that book. They both repositioned their legs until Levi was laying comfortably on top, the rest of their bodies finally being able to press against each other. Eren released Levi’s shoulder and grabbed the back of his head, holding him firmly in place as they continue moving their tongues together. The tea flavour had faded, but Eren found that Levi tasted just as good on his own.

 

Levi grinded his hips down and Eren raised up to meet him, making them both moan in to each other’s mouths. Thrilled that Levi was hard as well, Eren rolled his hips again to get another feel and rubbed up against him. Levi groaned lowly and broke away from the kiss in favour of attacking the tan skin of Eren’s neck, while his hand moved from Eren’s hair and trailing down his torso, eventually settling on his waist.

 

Tortoise eyes fluttered open as Levi mouthed and panted against his neck, fiddling with bottom of Eren’s jumper and grinding against him. To say that Eren was feeling pleased with the situation would be an understatement, although this was definitely not what he had expected when he came downstairs this evening. Eren wrapped an arm around Levi’s lower back and thrust his hips up, a powerful shiver running through him as Levi breathily moaned in to his ear and then tugged on it with his teeth. _Fuck._ Levi’s fingers finally managed to get under the hem of the jumper, and Eren bit his own lip as they grazed teasingly against the sensitive skin of his stomach.

 

Eren was just about to go for another hip grind, but then he heard… _footsteps?_

  
He focused on listening and figured out that it was coming from upstairs, able to tell where the person was walking by the quiet footfalls. Levi was getting bolder with his neck kissing, and it was a damn shame that Eren couldn’t pay attention it. His eyes followed the faint thudding around the ceiling, and cursed fucking everyone and everything when he realised they were heading towards the stairs. _Sina fucking hates me._

 

“Levi…” Eren tried to get the attention of the man sucking on his neck like a fucking remora, and gently pushed on his shoulders when there was no immediate response. “Levi, get off me.”

 

There was a wet popping sound as Levi released his skin and pulled back on to his knees. He hovered over Eren’s waist, staring down at him and breathing raggedly.

 

Well, that’s probably the single hottest thing Eren’s ever seen. He gazed back up at Levi for a moment, somehow resisting the temptation to take a peek at his crotch, and noticed that his face was currently very expressive. A strange combination of arousal, uncertainty, and annoyance. That last one was probably from having his neck-fest cut short. Eren decided to stick a pin in it for now, they currently had more pressing issues.  

 

The steps entered the stairwell and Levi finally seemed to notice, his eyes flew over to where the sound was emanating from and then back down to Eren. “Shit.” Levi jumped off the couch, waited for Eren pull his legs up, and then he sat on the opposite end.  

 

Eren tried to tidy himself up, which basically just meant wiping away the saliva from his mouth and neck, not even bothering with his hair because it’s always a mess. He was confident that Levi hadn’t been rough enough to leave marks. Picking the book up from the floor, Eren opened it to a random page and used it to cover his very obvious erection. He glanced over and saw that Levi had done the exact same thing, except with his legs crossed, and was holding his tea cup. _Genius._

 

Eren looked down at his book as if he was reading, only to look back up when the party-crasher entered the room a second later. And guess who it was?

 

Fucking _ARMIN._ _He was asleep! Why?!_  

 

The blonde entered the room and smiled at Eren, who was currently trying his best to not curse his friend to the fiery depths of titan infested hell. “What are you guys doing?”

  
“What the fuck does it look like?” Levi replied, voice a bit hoarser than usual. He raised the cup up to his mouth and took a long and very convincing sip of that sweet, sweet air. 

  
“Just reading,” Eren smiled at Armin, but on the inside he was mentally decapitating him. He tilted his head innocently. “I thought you were asleep?”

  
Armin walked over and sat down between them, making Levi look incredibly uncomfortable as he adjusted his legs and shifted away as much as possible. “I was asleep, but I heard a loud noise from down here, woke me up.” Armin frowned.

 _  
Damn it._ Eren leaned back and caught Levi’s heated eyes behind the yellow coconut. “Yeah, sorry. I… dropped my book.” It wasn’t a lie, technically.  

  
“Don’t worry about it, I wasn’t even asleep properly.” Armin said, completely unaware of just how much the people sitting on either side of him wanted to brutally stab him to death. “Eren, do you wanna come hang out in my room? I could tutor you some more, and I doubt Levi wants to share his couch with you.”

 _  
Oh, I bet he does._ He looked at Levi again, who had already guessed what Eren had thought and was glaring back at him. Eren shifted around to check on the goods, finding that he was now completely flaccid.“Yeah, sure. I’m done down here, anyways.”

  
After standing up and stretching, Eren turned back to the couch. The look on Levi’s face suggested that he was still struggling with his own problem, condemned to remain seated even though he clearly wanted to leave. Levi sipped nonchalantly on his empty cup again, and Eren couldn’t help thinking that it was a little bit funny. He gave Levi a small smile. “See you tomorrow.”

 

It was dismissed with a short hum as Levi continued reading, so Eren turned around to follow Armin up the stairs. Did that really happen? Eren wouldn’t be surprised if he had just had some kind of seizure and imagined the whole thing, but his still slightly damp skin convinced him otherwise. _Shit._ He was certainly happy about what happened, but it was all quite random. That’s going to make for an interesting work environment.

 

  
  
Walking down the hallway, Armin turned to look at Eren. “So, are you and Levi starting a book club or something?”

  
“Uh… no.”

  
“Good, because I would’ve been offended that you hadn’t invited me.” Armin smiled, and Eren wondered if his friend wasn’t actually as smart as he had previously thought. “Do you two usually read together?”

  
“Not at all.” Eren looked down the hall, trying to work out exactly how many seconds were left until he would reach the safety of his room. Armin was silent beside him, probably waiting for some sort of explanation. “It wasn’t planned or anything,” and wasn’t that the truth. “I went downstairs to read and found him chilling. It would’ve been rude to leave just because he was there.”

  
Armin nodded. “Fair enough, I just hope it wasn’t too awkward.”

  
“Why would it be?”

  
“I dunno, because he isn’t very talkative.” Armin hummed thoughtfully and pushed a blonde strand of hair out of his face. “But I guess he’s probably more comfortable around you, since you work together.”

 _  
So close._ Eren saw Armin’s door in the distance. Yes, it would all be over soon. “Yeah, he’s a bit different when we’re alone.”

  
“In what way?”

  
“Just… less hostile, I guess.” Eren laughed lightly as he scratched his cheek, then tried to keep the defensive tone out of his voice. “What’s with all the questions?”

  
“Sorry,” Armin giggled and gave him an apologetic smile. “I’ve barely talked to him at all, so he’s still a mystery to me. Guess I’m just curious.”

  
They finally reached Armin’s door. _Thank fuck_. Eren stopped and turned to him. “Hey, I’m actually just going to go to sleep. Sorry, I know you wanted to hang out.”

  
“Oh, me too. I don’t actually want to sit around tutoring you at this hour, silly.” Armin grinned and looked awfully proud of himself, it gave Eren a horrible feeling. “I just said that because you looked really awkward sitting next to Levi, thought I’d give you an escape route.”

 

Eren felt his face twitch and his blood run hot. He could’ve stayed, he could’ve been tongue deep in Levi again. Armin had forsaken him, why would he do that?

 

 _Escape route?_ Eren hadn’t wanted to leave and even if he had wanted to, there was no doubt in his mind that Levi would’ve backed off and let him, he had stopped straight away when Eren told him to. _But_ … Armin hadn’t known that, he thought that they were just awkwardly reading next to each other. Eren took a deep breath, told himself that Armin hadn’t meant to cock-block him and ruin what was possibly the best moment of his entire life, and then smiled sweetly. “Thanks ‘Min, but you don’t need to do that again. I wouldn’t have been there if I didn’t want to be.”

  
“I know. I just like trying to help,” Armin opened the door to his room, which used to be Eren’s too, and went inside. “Night.”

 

Once Armin had disappeared behind the closed door, Eren slouched and let out a huge sigh. Would Levi still be downstairs? Doubt it. Was it worth checking? _Oh, yes._

 

Eren straightened up and started backtracking, putting his feet down softly to avoid attracting any more unwanted attention, and eventually reached the stairs once more. Peeking over the railing, he looked down and saw that the lamp had been put out. _Damn it._ Levi must have come up while he was talking to Armin. Eren glanced around, wishing that he knew where Levi’s room was, but decided that he wasn’t ballsy enough to go knocking on random doors.

  
  
 

The building was dead silent, so Eren begrudgingly trekked back to his own room, extinguishing the hallway lamp along the way.

  
Not bothering to light his own room, he shuffled through the dark as he peeled off his jumper and shirt, tossed them haphazardly towards a corner and sat down on the end of his bed. Eren’s eyes moved to look at his pillow, heart clenching as he noticed the big lump under the blanket. _Would he?_   

 

Moving closer with an outstretched arm, Eren gingerly laid his hand on top of the unidentified mass. With his eyes were beginning to adjust, he could see that it definitely looked the right shape. Eren pushed down on it gently, happiness flooding into his chest when he felt something warm and solid shift beneath his hand. _Levi._ Unable to contain himself, Eren leaped forward and landed half on top of him, not caring at all that he would probably get yelled at for it. He felt Levi moving, so Eren tried to snake his arms around him and started kicking the stupid blanket out of the way.

 

“Eren?”

 

He stopped and looked down at his now exposed cuddle-buddy.

 

“MIKASA?!” Eren screeched and flung himself off the bed, scrambling away from it in a panic. “Wha- Why?!”

  
Mikasa uncovered her ears once Eren had stopped screaming, then sat up and watched him clambering around on the floor. “I was wai- Eren, where’s your shirt?”  

  
“I took it off!” He looked around and quickly found his shirt in the corner, then slipped it back on.

  
“Why?”

  
“This is my room!” Eren pointed at her accusingly. This was _definitely_ his room. It was his door, his bed, and his mess on the floor. “Why are you here?!”

  
“Stop yelling, you’ll wake everyone up.” She sighed and flung the end of the scarf over her shoulder, and Eren shut his mouth. “I’ve barely spoken to you in days, so I was waiting for you to come back.”

  
“Okay… but why are you in my bed?”

  
“Because you took ages and I was tired,” Mikasa’s eyes narrowed at him, the expression reminiscent of a bloodhound that had caught wind of a suspicious scent. “What’s the big deal? We’ve shared a bed before, and we’ve cuddled up in an alleyway. And why did you jump on me?”

 _  
Because I thought you were the hot guy I was just sucking face with downstairs._ Nope. “I didn’t know anyone was there, I just jumped on to my bed like I usually do. And then you scared the shit out of me!”

  
“I told you to stop doing that. Especially in the dark. it’s dangerous, you could fall.”

  
“Yeah, yeah.” Eren rolled his eyes. “Now, is there something important you want to tell me?”

  
“No,” Blinking a few times, Mikasa looked down and ran her hand over the blanket. “I just miss you.”

  
Eren slowly approached and sat down next to her, pulling the blanket over both their legs. “I know, I miss you too. But we’re not kids anymore, we can’t expect to see each other every day.”

  
“I know, but I wish we could.”

  
  
Green eyes examined her. Mikasa has some serious separation anxiety but considering what they’ve been through, it isn’t all that surprising. She was like that before the titans took out Wall Maria though, so maybe it has something to do with her parents… or the other thing they don’t talk about. Eren had no fucking clue, but this could be a good opportunity to test the waters. “You won’t always want that. One day you’ll get a boyfriend, or a girlfriend… or a something-friend...” Why didn’t he just say partner? _Idiot_. “Uhh… sorry, I lost my thought. The point is, you’ll meet someone, and I won’t be the most important person in your life anymore. Or at least you’ll have a second most important person.”

  
Mikasa turned to him and scrunched up her eyebrows. “Why are you talking about that? Do you have a girlfriend?”

 _  
Shit._ “Um… what? Haha, uh... _no_ , I don’t, Mikasa! We’re talking about you right now!”

  
“Okay…” She stared.

  
Time for a new approach. “Okay, think about it like this. For the foreseeable future, we are going to be living and working in the same place, there is no immediate danger, and we have everything we need to have a pretty good life. Considering the alternatives, that’s fucking great. If we don’t happen to run in to each other for a few days, at least you know that I’m alive and well, and probably just holed up somewhere doing something geeky.”   

  
“I guess,” Mikasa smiled and pulled the scarf over her chin. “Imagine if they let us join the combat forces, I’d be saving your ass all day long.”

  
That stings a little, but Eren knows it’s probably true. “I doubt that, but we’re safe here. Let’s just appreciate it, and I’ll try to make a bit more time for you, okay?”

 

  
Mikasa nodded, and Eren put his arm around her shoulder as they sat there.

  
Eren was glad for his new sleeping schedule, all the interesting shit seems to happen at night. Would this development make things more or less awkward? He wasn't sure, and he didn't really care, all Eren knew was that he definitely wanted to kiss Levi again, among other things. He had a feeling that tomorrow was going to be very interesting.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But i'm not sorry.


	8. Eren Likes Potatoes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Watch out for those carbs.

This was not what Eren had expected.

 

Well, he wasn’t sure what he had expected, but it definitely wasn’t this.

 

This morning had been wonderful. Eren had a refreshing sleep and woke up with a smile on his face, went downstairs to a delicious breakfast and chatted with his friends. Then he had pretty much skipped his way in to the lab like he was fucking Dorothy heading down the yellow brick road to Munchkin Land. Except he wasn’t gifted a bad-ass pair of magic shoes… all Eren received was a stubbornly cold shoulder.

 

It was confusing. Eren had said good morning, and Levi had just grunted in response and not even looked at him. It’s not like Eren had been expecting a big hug and a love poem from the disagreeable scientist, but an acknowledgment of his existence didn’t seem like an unfair request. Levi was acting even more abrasive than he had before their heated make-out session, which was strange. Wasn’t it supposed to have the opposite effect?

 

It had happened rather spontaneously. One moment they were just chatting and the next they were rolling around on the couch, but in Eren’s opinion it had been a long time coming. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Levi had been in to it, and Eren was sure that Levi had been about to start feeling him up when they were forced to stop. So, what the fuck?

 

Eren was currently disinfecting the sink, something he did every two or three days, while Levi was sitting in silence and doing paper work again. Eren was trying not to panic. It was Levi that had kept progressing things last night, he had been the one pushing it further. That fact alone supplied Eren with the knowledge that he hadn’t done anything wrong, that Levi had wanted it just as much as he had. 

 

Was he pissed off that Eren left with Armin? Maybe Levi had expected Eren to say fuck off and spend the night with him. But it wasn’t Eren’s fault that they were interrupted, he just did what he thought was best at the time. If Levi had hung around for five fucking minutes, he would’ve known that Eren had come back looking for him and was eager to pick up where they left off.  

 

Eren suddenly realising that he had been vigorously scrubbing the same spot for god knows how long and eased up to avoid damaging it. He glanced over his shoulder, and saw that Levi was still sitting in the same place and still very much ignoring him. The constant sound of graphite scratching against the paper was starting to get on Eren’s nerves. It’s usually not an issue because it’s so faint, but now it’s all he can hear in the otherwise silent room. _Fuck this._ He needs to find out what’s going on. “So…” Surprised by how loud his voice sounded, Eren stopped cleaning the sink, and the slight tremor in his hand made him realise just how nervous he was. _Keep going_. “Last night, huh?”

  
The irritating graphite sound stopped. Levi glanced up and looked at Eren for the first time, a frown prominent on his face. “I wasn’t supposed to do that.”

  
Eren’s swallowed, feeling his stomach twist with dread and anxiety, but he was determined to hold-fast. Turning away from the sink to look at Levi, Eren decided to push down his fear and fall back on what he does best; being a smart-ass _._ “What weren't you supposed to do exactly? Kiss me, stick your tongue down my throat, or rub your dick all over me? I’m afraid you’ll need to be more specific.”

  
“Fucking hell,” Great, now he was imagining it again. Levi dropped his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was too much, but Levi had decided to at least try to be responsible. “All of it, all of that.”

  
“You obviously enjoyed it.” Eren stated blandly as he continued staring at Levi, who just sat there with his hand covering his face, seemingly planning to ignore what Eren had just said. _This is stupid_. Eren just wants to make-out some more, but Levi’s bringing all this other dumb shit to the table. “Tell me why you _weren’t supposed_ to do that then. Who said?”    

  
“No one.” Levi brought his hand down from his face and grabbed the pencil again, hoping to continue working.

  
“Then what’s the problem?”

  
Levi sighed and looked at him again. “You’re so much younger than me. It’s… weird.”

  
“I don’t think it’s weird,” Crossing his arms and leaning back against the sink, Eren accepted that he would most likely get an ass-kicking today and tried to make his voice sound confident. “And based on how much you’ve been checking me out and your recent actions, I don’t think you do either.”

  
“That’s not the fucking point,” Levi’s grip tightened around the pencil, and Eren prepared himself for the return fire. “Other people will think it’s weird. Your friends, the people we work with. Shitwin will probably burst a blood vessel and have a haemorrhagic fucking stroke. Then, in the event that his hungry caterpillars manage to gobble all the blood and prevent debilitating brain damage, he’ll most likely ship your bratty ass straight back to whatever cesspool of filth he fished you out of.”

  
The words made Eren’s eyebrows scrunch together in confusion. “He’d make me leave? Why?”

  
“The reason isn’t important,” After a brief pause for consideration, Levi decided to be marginally less vague. “He doesn’t like distractions.”

  
“Okay…” Eren was lost. And speaking of, what has Erwin been up to anyways? Eren’s barely sees him around, maybe once a week, and the brief interactions generally consist of a meagre head nod and occasionally some idle chit-chat. Maybe he had other responsibilities, after all it doesn’t seem like the people here needed much _‘directing’_. Whatever, who cares. Eren’s got more important things to figure out, such as how he’s going to wiggle his way into Levi’s pants. “They don’t need to know. It’s none of their business what we do.”

  
Levi scoffed. “You expect me to believe that you haven’t told your shitty little friends? I bet you were up all-night gossiping about it.”

  
“No! I might say dumb stuff sometimes, but I know how to keep things to myself.” Eren resisted the urge to stomp his foot, because that probably wouldn’t help the situation. “I wouldn’t just go around telling people without talking to you about it, especially since it was so sudden. I even lied to Armin when he started asking questions.”

  
“Well isn’t that nice,” Levi turned his head, fiddling with the writing utensil as he stared at the wall. “What, you want me to be your secret boyfriend or some shit? Get real, kid.”

 _  
Son of a bitch._ Eren scowled, unfolded his arms and straighten up his posture. “No, I don’t actually. Since you’re being such a ginormous asshole.”

  
Levi looked back. “What the hell did yo-“

  
“I said you’re a ginormous fucking asshole!” Eren clenched his fists at his sides as he tried to stare Levi down, but he should’ve known better than to try. Levi just blinked at him and held eye contact, overall looking very unimpressed by the outburst but remaining silent. Taking a deep breath, Eren closed his eyes and calmed himself down. “Sorry… but you are being an asshole.”

  
The end of the pencil rhythmically tapped against the bench. “I usually am.”

  
“Not to me,” Eren sucked his cheek and looked out the door, wondering if anyone had heard him shouting. Probably not, since Hange would’ve assumed that Levi was trying to murder someone and already flown in here like a bat out of hell. “I just don’t understand what the issue is, we clearly like each other. I may be young but I’m capable of making an informed decision.”

  
“That depends on who you ask.” Levi hummed as he considered Eren for a moment. “You do realise that I’m over ten years older than you?”

  
“Really?” Eren did not know that, but he had known that there was a considerable difference. He’s not the best at math, but that would put Levi in his late twenties, maybe even thirty-ish… but he doesn’t see why that should matter. Levi’s still fucking hot. “I don’t care. I already like you, knowing your age doesn’t change how I see you or how I feel. And… if this is about ruining my innocence or something dumb like that, don’t worry cause that flew out the window a long time ago.” Feeling stubborn, Eren settled back down against the sink and pushed on. “I know what I’m doing and what I want, you wouldn’t be taking advantage of me or anything.”

 

“Stop trying to convince me, brat.”

 

“Why? Because it’s working?” Eren received a sharp glare for that, but there’s no way in hell he’s going to back down now. It’s honestly surprising that Levi hadn’t told him to shut up or stormed out yet, and it gave Eren the feeling that this was conversation was beginning to shift in his favour. He didn’t know for sure what the problem was, but he guessed that Levi was concerned that Eren hadn’t thought it through properly and would regret it later. Levi just needed a little push. “You were pretty enthusiastic about it last night, I bet you’ve wanted to do that for almost as long as I have.” Levi looked undoubtedly intrigued by that statement, and Eren could almost hear the applause for his glorious victory rumbling in the distance. _Finish him._ “Yeah, I’ve wanted to kiss you since day one. You have no idea how much I’ve thought about doing that, and… you know,” He intentionally looked down at Levi’s crotch. “Other things.”

 

Yeap, Levi was officially fucked. He thought about that brat more than he’d ever care to admit, and it was rarely in a platonic sense. It had been really fucking difficult for Levi to keep himself in check this long, and the resulting frustration was likely what caused his recent lapse of self-control. He had gotten so worked up last night that he had immediately returned to his room and jacked off with Eren floating around in his head. It had been fantastic, but it also seemed to have made Levi’s problem even worse. Because now his dick kept insisting that climbing on top of Eren again was suddenly an excellent idea, and his brain was inclined to agree. Fuck, he really wanted to. Levi took a deep breath and tried to collect his thoughts. “Like what?” He knew exactly what that fucking brat was doing, but Levi just couldn’t stop himself from taking the bait. “Tell me.”

  
“Thought you weren’t interested?”

  
“I never said that.”

  
That’s right, he hadn’t, but he had kicked up a fuss about everything else. Eren glanced up at the spotless ceiling and considered his next move, deciding that it’s probably best to stick with what seemed to be working. His eyes shifted back to Levi, ready to gauge the man’s response. “You would’ve found out last night, if you’d waited for me to come back.”  

  
Levi’s instantly frowned.

  
But from Eren’s perspective, it looked more like a sulk. Good. “Maybe I’ll tell you later,” Eren teased, his attempted smirk failing miserably and turning into an awkward half-smile. His nerve was fading, and he suddenly felt sick again. This conversation was draining...  _A tactical withdrawal it is then_. It seemed like a solid plan anyways, leave them hanging and all that bullshit. Yes, that’s perfect, Levi can spend the rest of the afternoon fantasising about what he’d missed out on. Levi is a smart guy; no doubt his mind is capable of conjuring up a wide variety of explicit images to torture himself with. “I guess you probably want some space. I’m done with the cleaning, so… yeah, I’ll see you whenever.”

 

 

Pushing off the sink, Eren somehow resisted the urge to look back at Levi as he walked out and quickly moved down the hall. Once he got far enough away, he stopped and rested his back against the wall, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor. Taking deep breaths, Eren noticed that his palms were sweaty and wiped them on his pants. _Gross._

  
Well that was nerve-racking, but Eren felt like he did a decent job standing his own in there and managed to get his point across. Why he was feeling so queasy at the moment was a mystery, but his best guess would be a delightful mix of trepidation and crippling fear of rejection. Eren had never yelled at Levi before, or called him an asshole, especially a ginormous one, but he didn’t regret it. Some of the things Levi said were way out of line, plus the fact that he’d been dishing out the silent treatment all morning.  

 

But at the end of the day, Eren was just fucking stoked that he hadn’t thrown up. Breakfast probably wouldn’t be as good the second time. _Double gross._ Suddenly feeling like a shower, Eren dragged himself to his feet and headed towards the exit. He was definitely taking the rest of the day off.  

 

 

* * *

 

 

    
After a quick shower, Eren enjoyed a relaxing afternoon of reading and even managed to take a short nap to make up for his recent late nights. He had been tempted to return to the lab several times, desperately wanting to check on how his Levi stew was coming along, but he had found the strength to resist. Eren had enough cooking experience to know that you shouldn’t open the lid before it’s ready, no matter how badly you wanted a taste.

 

So, he kept himself busy. When reading became too monotonous, Eren took a break to clean up his room a bit and even did some exercise, figuring that he might need it. Not that he was out of shape or anything; his body was lean and toned. There hadn’t been a hell of a lot to do in Shiganshina and physical activity was a decent way to pass the time while keeping yourself entertained. It was difficult to build up any bulky muscle mass though, considering the limited amount of protein in people’s diet. It was possible if you ate enough spinach… but Eren personally hated the stuff and as far as he was concerned, Popeye and his revolting canned foliage could go straight to hell.

 

The light flooding in through the window was gradually dimming and taking on a warm orange hue, alerting Eren’s stomach that it was almost time for dinner. He got up and tossed the book on to his bed, slipped on a warmer long-sleeve shirt and ventured out in to the corridor. Eren wondering what they’d be eating tonight but didn’t let himself get too hopeful... and come to think of it, he didn’t even know who did the cooking around here. There had been some mention of a chef, but Eren’s never seen them.

 

The sound of footsteps made Eren abandon his thoughts. He looked up from the floor and was somewhat surprised to see Erwin striding towards him. _How convenient_. The tall man gave him a brief nod of acknowledgement and continued on his way, but he was forced to a halt when Eren suddenly blocked his path. “Hey Erwin, long time no see.”

  
“Eren.” He greeted.

  
They looked at each other for a few seconds before Eren spoke again. “Whatcha been up to?”

  
Erwin stood still and stared down at the brunet. “Nothing of notable interest.”

  
“Oh yeah,” Eren nodded casually, thinking that this guy probably didn’t have a lot of friends. “Where’ve you been lately? Anywhere exciting?”

  
“Why do you ask?” His gaze drifted down the hallway, already bored with the conversation and wanting to get a move on.

  
“I’ve just noticed that you’re like, never here. And when you are I barely see you.” There was a long silence. It was weird. Eren sucked his lip and awkwardly shifted on his feet, then eventually decided that he couldn’t take it anymore and went on. “I thought you might’ve had another job or something, it made me curious I guess.”

  
Erwin blinked and suddenly his intense blue eyes were on Eren again. “I believe that is what resulted in the untimely death of a proverbial animal.”  

  
“Um… yeah? It was a cat.”

  
The blonde hummed to himself, then stepped around the human obstacle and carried on power-walking like he owned the place, which he kinda did.  

 

 _The fuck?_ If he didn’t want to say, he could’ve just said so. Not knowing what to do, Eren shrugged off the creepiness and resumed his search for sustenance.

 

Eren picked up on a delicious smell half way down the stairs, and his mouth watered at the decidedly meaty aroma. He rushed down and spotted Armin heading in to the kitchen, then immediately started following him.

  
Slinking through the doorway, Eren watched his friend pile up a plate and scanned the contents. Not seeing what he wanted, Eren suddenly popped up over Armin’s shoulder. “Where’s the meat?”

  
Armin squeaked as he jumped and almost dropped the plate. “Damn it, Eren.” He looked back over his shoulder at the crestfallen pair of turquoise eyes. “There isn’t any, sorry.”

  
“Aw… seriously?” Eren whined. “I swear I could smell it.”

  
After examining his plate, Armin provided some insight. “I think the potatoes were cooked in animal fat, that’s probably what it is.”

  
“At least there’s something good.” Eren grabbed a plate and started greedily chucking things on to it, probably taking a bit more than his fair share of the enticing tubers.

 

  
Once satisfied with his haul, Eren followed Armin out of the kitchen and towards a small square table that Hange was sitting at. Armin plopped down next to the nut job, and Eren decided to sit on the other side to face him. Beginning to shovel food in to his mouth, Eren groaned as he bit in to a crunchy, rich flavoured potato. “Fuck, that is so good.”

  
“I know!” Hange shouted with enthusiasm as they eyed up Armin’s plate. “We get the good stuff, mainly under the guise of _“brain food”_. I’m shocked that the higher ups actually believed it.”

  
Armin swallowed his mouthful and turned to Hange. “I bet Erwin sold it to them no problem, he’s incredibly convincing.”

  
That’s right. Eren momentarily stopped stuffing his face so that he could speak. “I saw him just before.”

  
Hange looked at him as they spun a fork in their hand. “Oh? I didn’t know he was back.”

  
“Yeah… he said something pretty weird to me.”

  
“Don’t worry about him,” Hange said as they inspected their now empty plate, clearly feeling quite sad about it. “Everyone here has a least one screw loose in their heads. Staring at normally invisible squiggles all day gradually drives a person insane.”

  
One of Eren’s uneaten potatoes caught Hange’s attention, so he quickly stabbed it with a fork in defence. Eren raised an eyebrow. “Erwin looks at squiggles?”

  
“Huh?” Deciding that they didn’t want to wrestle Eren for his tempting vegetable, Hange reached for their glass of water instead. “Oh, no. But he manages all the crazy people, which is probably just as insanity inducing.”

  
Armin finished off his meal and re-joined the conversation with a radiant smile. “Speaking of squiggles, Hange’s been letting me use their microscope this week.”

  
“That’s cool.” Eren had never used one before, mainly because he’d been far too nervous about leaving grubby fingerprints on Levi’s precious contraption.  

  
“Yup! But I must confess,” Hange said as they clasped their hands on-top of the table. “It’s only to keep my little gold-star assistant entertained, I’ve been down on the second floor a lot recently.”

  
Armin looked at them and pouted. “I wish you’d let me go down there with you, I want to see what you’re doing.”

  
“You can soon! It probably isn’t very interesting to watch though; the microscope is way more fun.” Hange took another sip of water, then suddenly slammed the cup down on the table and sprung to their feet. “Good evening, my adorable prince of darkness!”

  
Eren’s head snapped to the side and confirmed that Levi was indeed approaching the table. Which was strange… he didn’t usually join them, Eren had assumed that he simply preferred to eat by himself. Silver eyes met his own, and Eren tried not to get visibly flustered as Levi sat down on his left.

  
Unsatisfied with the lack of retaliation, Hange took their seat and addressed Levi again. “I see you’ve decided to actually consume something this week. And with us no less, what a privilege!”

  
“You smell like a wet dog,” Levi’s face was the epitome of indifference. “It ruins my appetite.”

  
“Well that’s unfortunate…” Pushing up their glasses, Hange had a mischievous glint in their eyes. “You won’t grow any taller if you don’t eat properly!”

  
“Words cannot describe how much I fucking hate you.”

  
Hange started cackling hysterically, the deranged laughter only stopping when Levi kicked them in the shin from under the table. “Ouch!” They winced in pain but regretted nothing. “So vicious…” Hange whispered as steel-blue eyes glared at them with murderous intent.

  
Eren managed to choke back his own chuckle at the interaction. He turning to look at Levi, eyes shifting around as he tried to read the man’s face. “Everything okay?”

  
A brief hum was the given response as Levi focused on his meal. Eren watched with vested interest as he cut off precise mouthfuls and wondered if Levi had some sort of magic protractor in his head. That would explain a _lot_.

 

“You’ve been busy lately,” Hange continued, undeterred by their rapidly bruising shin. “Is my little grumpy gremlin working on something special?”

  
It was only a matter of time until Levi would snap and finally kill them, he knew it. “As if I’d tell you,” He watched with disdain as Hange’s face adopted a pathetic begging expression. Hopefully the execution wasn’t too far away. “You already piss me off, I don’t need you sniffing around my lab as well. Your shitty glasses would only get in the way.”

  
“But I’d wear safety goggles! I know better than to hang around you without taking the necessary precautions,” Hange looked up to the ceiling and thoughtfully pressed a finger against their lip. “Hmm, yeah… I wonder where my knee pads are…”

  
Taking that as his cue to withdraw from the conservation, Levi ignored Hange’s random mumbling and resumed eating.

 

Finally placing the last piece of potato in his mouth, Eren chewed slowly to savour it. He had an idea. It was an incredibly stupid idea that would most likely result in a whole world of pain on his behalf, but he was feeling daring today. Eren leaned forward and grabbed his cup, successfully concealing the movement of his other arm as he placed his hand on the warm leg next to him. He felt Levi flinch at the unexpected touch, but otherwise there was no reaction. Great, that was the difficult part over with.

  
While casually sipping on his water, Eren started moving his thumb back and forth. His hand gradually floated over to Levi’s inner thigh, and he felt the muscle twitch when he ran his fingers along it. Eren eyed the other two, content that they were continuing to talk between themselves, and then looked to the leg’s owner. Levi spared him a brief glance before his eyes went back to the table, giving Eren the impression that he wasn’t opposed to their current contact.

  
The cup was placed back on the table and Eren grabbed his fork, simply to give himself something to look at. He wasn’t sure if it was just from touching Levi again or if it was because they could get caught, but it was exciting and Eren couldn’t help but wonder how far he could take it. He travelled higher, feeling Levi fidget a little bit, and then Eren had to mentally will himself not to blush as his hand brushed over Levi’s cock. Eren paused and glanced to the side again, finding Levi still staring straight at the table with an elbow resting on it, mouth hidden behind his hand. Not seeing any sign of discomfort, Eren started palming at Levi through the fabric, pleased to feel that he was starting to get hard from the attention. Eren added more pressure and was sure that Levi pushed up against his hand.

 

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. It was thrilling and hot, and Eren was elated that Levi had trusted him enough to allow it, but now he didn’t know what to do. He was doubtful that he could get away with anything more than this, not here at least… damn it. But on the bright side, it meant that Levi had most likely gotten over his moral dilemma if he was letting Eren touch him like this. Eren smiled to himself and gave Levi’s semi-erection a firm squeeze.

 

He carried on until Levi’s leg suddenly jolted up, the movement taking Eren by surprise. “What?”

  
“What?”

  
“Huh?” Eren’s eyes flicked up from the table, Hange and Armin were both looking at him expectantly. _Shit._ He stilled his hand but didn’t pull it away. “What?”

  
Armin crossed his arms and frowned. “Weren’t you listening at all?”

  
“Ah… no. I must’ve zoned out.” He laughed nervously and turned to Levi, whose calm expression suggested that there was no cause for concern. Eren felt himself relax. “Sorry. What were you talking about?”

  
“Hange was saying that the scouts are planning to retake wall Maria.”

  
“What?” Eren had said that word far too many times today, but he can’t help it when people keep saying crazy shit. “What do you mean _retake_ it? The whole place must be infested with titans. And, have they forgotten that the fucking gate was blown down by supersized Iron Man? That’s ridiculous.”

  
Armin’s fingers tapped against his arms as he stared down at the table. “Yeah, that’s what I thought too.”

  
“How the hell do they plan on doing that?” Eren asked, and when Armin didn’t respond he looked at Levi again, who also appeared confused and simply shrugged his shoulders.  

  
Hange hummed. “I dunno, everyone’s keeping pretty tight lipped about it. Who knows if it’s even true, it’s just something I heard from a buddy of mine.” They flicked some hair out of their face. “I don’t see how it could be done it either. We don’t even know what the walls are made out of, so they couldn’t possibly plan to repair it, but how could they retake it with that gaping hole there?”

  
“Sounds like a load of horseshit.” Levi added.

  
“Yeah,” Armin agreed with him. “And I hope it is, imagine how many people could die trying to do something like that.”

  
Eren sucked on his lip for a moment. “I doubt they’d be stupid enough to go through with it, especially since there is…”

 

He trailed off when an imposing pair of eyebrows emerged from the stairwell, and the whole table turned to bask in their magnificence. They approached and came to an abrupt stop behind a bewildered yellow coconut. “Hange, Levi. I need to speak with you.”

  
Levi frowned and took his arm off the table. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

  
“I am not.” Erwin assured and took off towards the front door, while Hange scrambled to their feet and chased after him.

  
“For fucks sake, bloody asshole...” Levi continued grumbling a string of insults as he resigned himself to his miserable fate.

 

Eren carefully removed his hand when he started to stand up, relieved to see that Levi’s over-sized shirt was long enough to hide the evidence of their brief petting session. Levi begrudgingly followed after them, glancing back at Eren when he reached the door before disappearing.

 

Eren silently turned back to Armin, the two of them left alone at the table.

  
Armin smiled. “So, what’s new with you?”

  
“Nothing really,” He shrugged and looked down, noticing that his hand felt unpleasantly cold. “That microscope thing you were talking about sounds fun, I think I’m going to ask Levi if I can have a go with his one… with supervision of course, and gloves.” Eren chuckled, wondering just how slim the odds of that happening were.

  
“I hope he lets you, it’s really interesting.”

  
“Do you know where Mika is?” Eren asked.

  
“Nope. I haven’t seen her for a few hours, probably still working.”

  
“Lame.”

  
“Yeah,” Following Eren’s gaze to the table top, Armin frowned at what he found there. “Damn it, they left their plates...” He sighed and looked back up. “You wash, I’ll dry?”

  
“Aw, what?!” Eren stood up and slammed his hands on the table. “No way, I wash stuff all day long. I wanna dry!”

  
“Fine,” Armin rolled his eyes as he started gathering the plates. “Since you’re so adamant about it.”

 

“Do you think Mikasa will be mad if I eat her potatoes?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment if you liked it ~ 
> 
> Next chapter will probably be a week away, maybe a little longer since I got heaps of uni shit on atm.  
> But I did well in my microbiology test, I think Levi would be proud :D


	9. Magpie

So... I was bored/avoiding studying and ended up making "art" for this.  
It's nothing amazing cause I'm not an artist. I'm just a nerd. 

Please ignore Eren's crab hand.   
And everything else that's bad.    
The colour looks off on my phone so idk.   
Chapter is after it.   
                                          **~ THANKS ~  
**

   
  


  

 

* * *

 

* * *

 

“Can I ask you something?” Eren slinked closer to the bench, puppy eyes at maximum strength. Thankfully there had been no serious discussion awaiting him today, and it seemed that Levi had successfully managed to remove whatever had been lodged up his ass yesterday. Eren still wasn’t sure of what was going on, but by this point he knew that Levi was interested and was happy to just roll with it and see what happened. They had just got back from a late lunch, and Eren thought it was the perfect time to try his luck.

 

Levi stopped what he was doing and turned to the begging brunette. “Only if it isn’t stupid.”

  
“By whose standard?” It seemed like a legitimate question, and it was one that Eren gave up after a long silence. “Um… do you think I could try your microscope? Just to see what it’s like?” He wiggled his fingers nervously as he waited. Levi appeared to be thinking about it, but Eren wasn’t a patient person. “I can put gloves on, if you want.”

  
“It’s a bit late for me to start worrying about your germs, brat.” Levi conceded and drifting to the side to make room in front of the device. “Come here.”

 

Eren held back an excited squeal while he bounced over, settling next to Levi and smiling at his bored expression. Looking down, Eren started inspecting the microscope and realised that he had no fucking clue how it worked. “Um, what do I…?”

  
Levi swallowed his concern for the safety of his favourite machine, relieved that Eren had asked instead of cluelessly fiddling with it. “It’s already set up,” He reached out and tapped a finger on top of the binocular-looking part. “Just look in here.”

  
“Alright,” After tilting his head forward and looking in, Eren found himself overwhelmed with frustration. He couldn’t see properly. These random, jittery black sticks kept moving around and freaking him out, but squinting only seemed to make it worse. “Levi, what am I looking at?” Eren huffed in annoyance as he continued to fail. The dark objects were completely unidentifiable, and their sporadic movements prevented him from focusing. “These things… they look like little spider legs or something?”

 

This was going to be a long day. Levi enjoyed watching Eren struggle for a while before putting him out of his misery. “Those are your eyelashes, dumbass.”  

 

Eren blinked slowly, realising that the dark squiggles were moving on cue and indeed attached to his face. “Oh.”

 

Well that made Eren feel like an idiot. He quickly figured out that moving a little further away stopped his eyelashes from being too much of a nuisance, and he was finally able to see some… blobs. They were kinda pretty, in a blobby sort of way. Upon closer inspection, Eren could recognise a few features from the textbook he was reading but couldn’t remember their names. Levi must’ve sneaked around while he was trying to figure it out, because he was suddenly pressed up against Eren’s back. Eren lost interest in what he was doing and tried to look at him, but gave up when he realised his head couldn’t turn that far. “Levi?”

  
  
Levi moved his face forward and rested it at the base of Eren’s neck, his breath tickling the exposed skin in a very stimulating way. He put an arm around Eren’s torso, fingers spreading out over his chest. Levi spoke huskily. “Eren…”

  
  
Shit. Eren instantly decided that Levi had the most seductive bedroom voice to ever exist, especially when saying his name like that. It made Eren shiver as his blood flow was redirected straight to his crotch. He felt Levi’s teeth gently graze over his nape, and the hand on his chest was venturing lower. Fingers ran down Eren’s body and found their way under the bottom of the shirt, where they started delicately tracing over his stomach. The teeth were replaced by something softer, which Eren could only assume were Levi’s lips, and then another hot breath against his skin.

  
  
Levi slowly licked a stripe up the tan neck, pleased when he felt Eren’s muscles tense up under his hand. “Like it?”

  
  
Yes, yes, yes. Eren nodded as enthusiastically as possible while pushing back against Levi’s body, sure that any words he tried to produce would come out as an unintelligible gargle.

 

“Good,”

 

Eren’s brain skidded to a halt. Why was the sexy voice was gone?

 

Levi pulled his hand away and stepped back. “Go clean those test tubes.”

  
The noise that escape Eren’s throat was that of a pinched balloon deflating. When his voice returned, he started stuttering. “W-what?” He spun around, confusion plastered all over his face. “What?”

  
“Stop saying what.”

  
“But, wha- why?!”

  
Levi huffed and crossed his arms. “Thought you could just grope me under a table and get away with it? I’m sick of you blue-balling me, consider it payback. Now hurry up,” Levi tilted his head towards the sink. “I need them soon.”

  
“Wait, Levi…” Eren whined and turned on the sad eyes again, approaching Levi with arms stretched out to grab him. “I’m sorry… please?”

  
“No,” Levi side-stepped, successfully avoiding the needy hug. “You’re not getting anything. Clean. Now.”     

 

Eren pouted and made his way over to the sink, beginning to rinse the test tubes as ordered. Well, that sucked. Eren couldn’t say that he didn’t deserve it though, he was a little shit yesterday. He had been intentionally trying to frustrate Levi, hoping that it would override whatever concerns he may still have. It seemed to have worked, bar the cruel revenge. Eren appreciated getting a preview though, because now he could imagine Levi saying all sorts of things in the voice.

 

The little glass vessels were passed over to Levi once they were thoroughly cleaned. With nothing to do, Eren returned to the bloody stool that he hoped he’d never end up on again. He hadn’t sat on it for a while, since Levi was gradually trusting him with more responsibilities.

 

But there he was.

 

If there was one good thing about Eren’s perch in the corner, it was that it provided an excellent vantage point for one of his favourite activities; Levi-watching. The man in question was filled up the freshly-washed test tubes with unknown liquids, and Eren couldn’t help thinking that he looked incredibly cute when concentrating.

 

 

Levi finished up and turned to look at Eren, who didn’t even have the decency to pretend that he hadn’t been staring. “I’m going downstairs.”

  
“Okay.” Eren replied as his eyes begun scanning the room, searching for something to clean while he waited for Levi to return. He’d done the sink yesterday, and everything had been disinfected that morning. Maybe he could fiddle around with the microscope some more? Eren looked over at the device and was surprised to see that Levi was still hovering near the doorway. “I thought you were leaving?”

  
“I am,” Levi stared at him, thinking again, then looked down at the rack of test tubes he was holding. He pinched the top of one and rotated it fractionally, matching the label with the others. “You can come.”

  
“Really?!” Eren came very close to falling off the stool as he scrambled to his feet, and once on solid ground he rushed to Levi’s side. “Are you sure?”

 

Levi blinked, then turned around and exited the room without giving a reply. Interpreting it as Levi-language for _‘I wouldn’t have said it if I wasn’t’_ , Eren giddily followed and caught up to him in the corridor. He shadowed behind Levi as they went through the building. Keeping up with his speedy walking pace was no longer a conscious decision, and they soon arrived at the stairs to the next floor down.

 

Eren tried to stop himself from visible bouncing on his feet from excitement; he’d only been down here once before and had never done anything. When they stopped at the mysterious room with the glass wall, Eren’s immediately read over the warning sign. Taking note of the spelling, Eren realised that he had pronounced a word wrong the first time. Whoops.   

 

“Here, brat.”

  
Something suddenly flew in to Eren’s face and took out his vision. He panicked and tugged it off, revealing the offending item to be one of those white surgical masks that Levi had been wearing last time. “Awesome…”

  
Levi rolled his eyes and put his own mask on. He tugged latex gloves on to his hands and then slapped Eren in the arm with another pair.

  
“Ow!” Eren managed to catch them before they fell to the floor. Much care was taken as Eren worked the gloves on to avoid getting them tangled up again, then pulled the mask over his face.

  
When he was done, Levi unlocked the outer door and let them both in, locking it shut before opening the inner door. Eren stepped inside and looked around, finding the place incredibly empty spare for a big metal table and some cupboards. He watched Levi tentatively place the rack of test tubes on the table and wondered if the mask looked just as cool on himself. “Hey Levi,”

  
“Hm?” Levi went over to one of the cupboards and pulled out a large metal box, there was some writing on the side but Eren couldn’t make it out. He carried it over and placed it down next to the tubes.

  
“How do I look?”

  
His eyes flicked up to Eren. “What the hell does that mean?”

  
“With the mask on,” Eren raised his hands and waved them around his face, even though he had already clarified, and the jazz hands probably weren’t necessary. “Does it look as good on me as it does on you?”

  
Levi cocked an eyebrow. “You think this looks good on me?”

  
“Yeah, it’s… um,” Eren paused, thinking that it would probably be weird to say that he thought it looked hot. Instead, he decided to go with the other observation he had made. “It contrasts with your hair and makes your eye colour stand out more,” The upper half of Levi’s face looked surprised by the random compliment, so Eren decided to tack a bit more on. “But it’s a win-lose because it hides your nose, which is really nice as well.” It’s _cute_ , but Eren knew better than to say that.  

  
“Ah…” Levi blinked, unsure how to respond to the things that Eren was saying about him. Thankfully he was wearing a mask, because he thought that he might actually be blushing a little bit. But only a little bit. Shiny turquoise eyes were staring at him expectantly, and Levi got the feeling that it was his turn to say something now. “I like your face, too.” The corners of Eren’s eyes scrunched up, and Levi assumed that he must be smiling.

  
Eren laughed, having never imagined that someone would actually say something like that. It clearly wasn’t the reaction Levi had been expecting because his head tilted to the side, curiously examining the visible portion of Eren’s face. It made a certain imagine pop in to Eren’s mind, and… _oh my god._ “That’s it!”

  
“What?”

  
The smile on Eren’s face was so wide that it almost hung out the edges of his mask. It might very well be the death of him, but he just needed to say it. “You look like a magpie.”

  
“What?” Levi’s eyebrows scrunched together, confused by the comparison and annoyed that he had involuntarily adopted Eren’s signature word. “A magpie?”

  
“Yeah! Those birds, but I mean it in a good way.” Eren hummed and considered the idea, while Levi stared at him and awaited an explanation. “Actually, now that I’m thinking about it… I’m pretty sure that it’s like, your spirit animal or something.”  

  
Levi frowned, then realised that Eren couldn’t see his displeasure and frowned some more. “Why the fuck would I be a stupid bird?”

  
“Well for starters you’ve got black hair and you’re pretty pale, so the ‘colour scheme’ matches, so to speak.” Eren waved a hand in the air as he explained. “And people say that magpies are one of the smartest animals, I’ve heard they’re the only non-mammal that can recognise itself in a mirror. And you’re smart too, so yeah.” Eren shrugged, then the pissed off look in Levi’s eyes gave him yet another idea. “And, you know… they viciously attack unsuspecting people without provocation. A magpie flies overhead and everyone hits the deck, just like how people run for the hills when they see you looking angry.”

  
“I’ll give you that last one, those little shits are dangerous.”

  
“Yup,” Eren nodded. “Just like you.”

  
Levi hummed and turned back to the table, clicked open the metal box and took the lid off, then pulled out a few stacks of small containers.   

  
“I think that’s going to be your code-name from now on; _Magpie_. Maybe we can replace the name on your coat?”

  
“Only if you want to die.” Levi held up a flat see-through disc, peering inside it.

  
“Do you have a compulsive urge to steal people’s earrings?” Eren snickered behind his mark, proud of how much he’d managed to irritate Levi. The fun was evidently over when there was no response, so Eren moved to stand close to Levi in front of the table. The circular container he was looking at had heaps of tiny white dots in it, which Eren thought looked a bit like swiss cheese. “What’s that?”

  
Levi continued inspecting several other containers. “These are cultures, the white spots are bacteria.”

  
“Gross… and cool,” Eren squinted at the slimy blobs. “But mostly gross.” While he was distracted, Levi magically summoned a sheet of paper from god knows where and begun jotting some notes down. Seriously, that man is like a walking stationary store, only without the friendly customer service. For once Eren was able to remember something from his book and spoke up. “I thought bacteria were supposed to be super small, how come we can see it?”

  
“Cause there’s a shit load of them.”

  
Eren wasn’t sure whether he should recoil in disgust or congratulate the little guys on their momentous achievement of making it into macroscopic existence. As he was looking down, some of Eren’s hair fell in to his eyes. To fix the problem without touching his face, he started violently twitching his head to try flick it out of the way. He was successful after a few attempts, but by that time Levi had noticed the fit he was having and was staring at him. Feeling embarrassed, Eren cleared his throat and moved on. “So… what’s going on here? Are we gonna water them with the stuff in the test tubes or something?”

  
Levi raised an eyebrow. “Yes, actually.”

  
“Really?” Levi confirmed with a curt nod, and Eren couldn’t stop himself from squealing at the fact that his random guess had been correct. Oh… did he say random? No, no, no. He definitely knew that it was correct, Eren is a certifiable genius. He shimmied closer to watch over Levi’s shoulder, exercising patience as painfully precise quantities of liquid from the test tubes were added to the mini bacteria farms. This was interesting and all, but Eren didn’t really know what the point of this was. “What are you giving them?”   

  
More liquid was added to the containers as Levi considered the best way to phrase it so that Eren could understand. Something he did on a regular basis and didn’t particularly mind. “It’s titan juice.”

 _  
Well, then_. Eren hummed and nodded, not finding that reply strange at all. Especially compared to titan meatballs and foot meat.

  
“More specifically,” Levi continued. “It’s titan spine juice.”

  
Eren moved from behind Levi to stand next to him, paying close attention to what he was doing. “I remember you saying that the best way is to get something to attack the nervous system,” He looked closely and waited, but was disappointed when the bacteria didn’t do anything in response to being coated with the stuff. How anticlimactic; Eren had been half expecting them to shriek and shrivel up in protest. “Do they… like it?”

  
Levi scoffed and glanced over at Eren with amused eyes. “How considerate of you to take the bacteria’s personal preference of in to account.” Now finished with the task, he began putting the lids back on to their respective containers. “If there’s nothing else available, they will learn to like it.” Levi glared down at the samples on the table as if he was telepathically warning them not to dare disobey his orders. “Hopefully.”

  
“So… suck up the titan juice or die?” Eren asked and couldn’t help feeling bad that the little guys were being forced to consume something so revolting.

  
“Yes, but… it’s more complicated than that,” Levi thought for a moment as he re-stacked the containers. “If you were starving and the only thing around happened to be a pile of rocks, you couldn’t just start eating them. First your body needs to change, so that you’re capable of eating rocks.”

  
“That’s a weird analogy…” Eren briefly wondered what rocks would taste like, imagining that it would be similar to dirt. Do magpies like rocks? They probably can’t carry them far, but if they used their feet they could probably collect a few… Or would that prevent them from flying? Eren blinked and managed to pull his mind out of the void. “So, they need to change so that they can eat titan juice? That sounds pretty intense though, what if they don’t?”

  
Levi shrugged with one shoulder. “Then they don’t.” He looked to the side and saw that Eren was obviously unsatisfied with the answer. “But they should. Bacteria have a phenomenally short generation time and a high mutation rate. And considering how many of the little bastards are swimming around in these dishes, it’s not that unlikely.”

  
“Right,” Eren said, even though he wasn’t completely sure what that meant. He was certain that Levi was already dumbing it down for him and didn’t want to make him repeat it. The biology book would have the answers he seeks. Levi had finished putting everything back in to the box and was writing again, and Eren wondered if he should try getting Levi back for what he did earlier. The conclusion was no, he shouldn’t. Mostly because he knew that Levi wouldn’t appreciate a sexual advance while he was handling titan germ soup and would most likely attack. Eren couldn’t blame him though, that shit’s nasty. He decided to go with the less risky option and turned to face Levi. “Sooo…”

  
With all the notes completed, Levi placed the sheet of paper in the box and tucked his pencil in to his breast pocket. He recognised the tone of Eren’s voice; it was what signalled when something stupid or embarrassing was about to fly out of the brunet’s mouth. Past experience had taught Levi that simply ignoring the dreaded sound does nothing to prevent what follows, so all he could do was hope for the best. “Hm?”

  
Eren sucked on his cheek and watched Levi put the lid back on the box. “Do you wanna hang out tonight?”

  
Levi sighed. He did want to, very much, but he couldn’t help feeling bothered. “Not if you keep calling it _hanging out_ , sounds like you wanna steal some booze and sit around gossiping on the grass. Try again.”

  
“Sorry,” But Eren would be down for that. Maybe some other time. “Do you want to… see each other tonight?”

  
“Much better.” Levi picked up the box and returned it to the cabinet, taking his time to securely position it on one of the shelves. When he turned back around, he found Eren staring at him with adorable doe-eyes and a worried crease on his forehead. Oh right, he hadn’t replied to the brat’s question yet, how terribly rude. Levi walked past him and opened the door. “’kay.”

  
“Okay!” Eren hastily bounced out after him, forgetting that there were two doors and bumping into Levi’s back, squishing him against the second door that he had been trying to unlock. Levi made a wheezy grunt sound, as if he’d been punched and had all the air knocked out of him. Eren cringed. “Shit, sorry.”

  
Levi was momentarily winded from having the metal door handle jabbed in to his diaphragm, but the pain was tolerable. Once he was able to breathe again, Levi glared over his shoulder at the brat’s guilty face. “You’re going to kill me one day.”

  
Feeling like that wasn’t in need of a response, Eren simply stood there and waited for his freedom to be granted. It’s strange to know that you’re locked inside a room. Even though Eren knew it was perfectly safe, he couldn’t help feeling a little claustrophobic.

  
The door swung open and Eren instantly sprung out like a startled antelope. He tugged his mask off and turned to grin at Levi, noticing that he was touching his abdomen. “Are you okay?”

  
“It’s fine,” Levi dropped his hand, the area of impact still only slightly tender. With his attention now on Eren, Levi decided that he preferred the brat without a mask; his smile was far too beautiful to cover up. Levi pulled his own off, then started removing his gloves. “Just don’t be surprised if there’s a bruise later.”

  
“I'm sorry...” After watching Levi throw his mask and gloves in to a bin, Eren did the same thing and then followed him back towards the stairs.

 

 

While power walking through the corridors, Eren suddenly realised that Levi had been telling _him_ not to be surprised… which meant that Levi expected them to be in a situation where Eren would be able to see the location of said bruise. _Oh, yes._ Eren sped up until he was walking at Levi’s side. “So, tonight…”

  
“Yeah?”

  
“Um…” Eren examined a strange looking fern in a bright yellow plant pot as they passed it by, unable to recall if he’d ever seen it before. Weird. His attention went back to Levi, who was still awaiting his response. “Can I recommend somewhere more private this time?”

  
Levi gave a lazy hum of confirmation. Neat. Seeing that they were almost at their destination, Eren thought it best to wait until they were in the room to say anything more. Someone was bound to be lurking in the shadows. He went in after Levi, shutting the door behind them. “You’re okay with this, then?”  

  
“Seems so,” Levi went back to where he was working before and started putting away the equipment and chemicals he’d used, each in its allocated position within a metal cabinet. “Whatever the fuck _this_ is.”

 

A more conclusive answer would’ve been preferable, but there was no time to dwell on it. The door suddenly flew open again, scaring the shit out of Eren and almost slamming in to his side.

 

“Levi!” Hange came barrelling in with an insane spark in their eyes, barely able to stop themselves from toppling over on to the floor. “Where’ve you been?! I’ve been looking for you!”

  
Levi took a step backwards as they closed in, placing the glass vials he was holding down on the bench in case Hange decided to leap on him. “Downstairs.”

  
“You were gone for ages, why’d you take so long?”

  
“Eren was with me.” Levi answered, knowing that it was self-explanatory. Everything took longer with that brat causing trouble and asking ridiculous questions. Ordinarily, Levi would have been driven to homicidal rage by now, but the fact that he was severely attracted to Eren seemed to negate any resentment. Levi saw his assistant pout, presumably unhappy about being used as an excuse. But it was true, so… _too bad_.

  
Hange nodded with understanding, which make Eren look even more sour. Their body jolted, remembering their reason for visiting. “I came to tell you about something crazy I found!”

  
Levi breathed deeply as he prepared himself for a sudden influx of stupidity. He gave Hange a look that said he was listening, sort of, then gestured for them hurry up and to spit it out.

  
“Right. So, I’m still working on the same thing…” Hange begun bouncing on their toes. “I was trying to isolate the code for the titan photosynthesis mechanism, and while I was, I came across several human genetic markers!”

  
Expecting more words to explode out of their mouth, Levi remained silent and waited patiently. When nothing followed, it became obvious that they wanted another prompt to prove that he was actually listening. He obliged. “And?”  

  
“That’s it!” Hange threw their hands up in the air. “Human markers in the titan DNA.”

  
Levi couldn’t believe that he was seriously having this conversation. “So?” He let out an exhausted sigh, leaned back against the bench and crossed his arms. “The sample was probably contaminated, you shed more hair than a moulting cat. It’s disgusting, by the way.”

  
Hange gasped. “No! My technique is perfectly sterile. Not a single droplet of body fluid or floating cornflake of dead skin could’ve snuck its way in!”

  
Levi almost gagged at the imagery. Revolting. “It could’ve been the overly enthusiastic coconut.” The suggestion caused Hange to gasp once more, and Levi rolled his eyes. “And even if it wasn’t, what’s the big deal? We share over half our DNA with chickens and fucking bananas, although I expect there’s a bit more chicken in you. It’s not exactly a far fucking stretch to imagine that a species of humanoid appearance would have some genetic similarities.”

  
“Yeah, I suppose...” Hange stared down at their feet with a thoughtful expression, mostly talking to themselves at this point. “Just wasn’t expecting to find it where I did. How unusual…”

  
Levi tapped his foot impatiently and looked over at the glass vials on the bench, feeling increasingly annoyed that they were still sitting there. He stared at them, until Hange started mumbling some more and regained his attention. “Why’re you still here? Go bother someone else with your conspiracy theory crap.” Silver eyes tracked them as they wander out in to the hallway, still whispering to themselves like a creep, then Levi finally returned to his task of organising the cabinet.

 

  
Meanwhile, Eren was still mind-blown by the fact that he was half banana. Why did no one tell him? Should he stop eating them? That’s like DNA cannibalism… but they’re pretty tasty, too. _It’s probably fine_. Convinced that he could continue indulging in fruity snacks, Eren’s mind moved on to other things as he watched Levi meticulously arrange the storage space. “Do you really like my face?”

 

“Huh?” Levi stopped what he was doing and gave Eren an incredulous look over his shoulder. “What fucking universe are you in?”

  
Assuming that was a rhetorical question, Eren just shrugged.

  
“Yeah,” Levi replied and turned back to the cabinet. “As far as faces go, yours is pretty good to look at.”

  
That sounded like it had intended to be a compliment, so Eren took it as one and approached the bench to help put things away.

  
Levi didn’t complain about the assistance. Eren was well acquainted with where everything belonged and his particular system of organisation. “Thanks.” Once everything was back in its place, he turned to face Eren. To Levi’s surprise, the brat was already gazing back at him with a soft expression and bright, caring eyes. “Stop staring at me like that.”

  
Instead of looking away, Eren smiled. “Like what?”

  
“Like you’re expecting me to… do something.”

 

Eren considered saying that he was expecting something, but he figured that it was pointless since Levi was already eyeing up his lips. Following suit, his eyes dropped down and found that Levi’s mouth looked particularly enticing at the moment. Eren took a shaky breath and leaned in, eyes closing as Levi met him half way. Their lips slotted together, and it somehow felt even better than the last time, probably because he wasn’t as nervous. Eren wrapped an arm around Levi’s back and pulled him in to deepen the kiss, finally getting another taste of Levi’s tongue.

It seemed like _“tonight”_ was about to get pushed forward a bit.

 

 

* * *

* * *

 

 

[I definitely made this on Snapchat](https://i.imgur.com/5lq4qb1.jpg) & i'm so sorry


	10. Close the Door

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's right, the rating has changed.  
> As a reward for 200 kudos, I present you with some smut!
> 
> WOW. OKAY. I've never written smut before (okay one time but it was pretty mild), so apologies if it's not that good.  
> Feedback helps and is greatly appreciated. :D

 

Eren tilted his head to the side, running his tongue along Levi’s bottom lip before entering his mouth. This wasn’t exactly what Eren had in mind when he suggested a more private location, but he supposed it’ll have to do. He opened his mouth wider to accommodate Levi’s actions, which were just as eager as the last time they did this. Eren rubbed his tongue against Levi’s, deciding that he would never get bored of the other man’s mouth. There was no tea flavour this time, but Eren was glad for it because he enjoyed his natural taste. 

 

Eren grabbed on to the lapels of Levi’s lab coat and carefully stepped backwards. His eyes were closed, but he knew the room and had a pretty good idea of where they were standing. Eren applauded his navigation skills when he felt his back bump in to the wall, then extended an invitation to Levi with a firm tug on his coat. Taking the hint, Levi moved closer and started circling his tongue around Eren’s.

 

The height difference made kissing slightly more difficult while standing, but the pay-off was well worth the effort and a potential sore neck was the least of their concerns. After Eren let go of the coat to slip his arms out from between them, Levi immediately closed the gap by putting his hands on the wall and pressing their bodies flush together.

 

Eren could feel the heat radiating off him, the rise and fall of Levi’s chest pressing them closer with every breath. Remembering something he’d liked the last time, Eren separated his mouth from Levi’s and turned his head to the side. Levi made an irritated sound as he tried to follow Eren’s lips, but quickly figured out what the brunet wanted and went after his throat instead.

 

Lips trailed up Eren’s neck, and he moaned softly when Levi took his skin in to his mouth and started sucking on it.

 

Levi dragged his teeth along the soft skin, lightly biting down and thoroughly enjoying the quiet gasp that followed. He released his hold and kissed Eren’s neck several times, then went back to sucking on it and massaging the skin with his tongue.

 

Eren was on cloud nine, unable to comprehend how someone making out with your neck could feel so good, and he let out another moan when the biting action was repeated. Levi made a muffled sound in response, so Eren put his hand on the back of Levi’s head and directed him back to his mouth. Levi’s lips were wet from his previous task, making it easier for their mouths to slide together.  

 

Once Levi’s tongue was in his mouth again, Eren gently sucked on it and flicked the tip with his own. Levi groaned and shoved his hips forward, giving Eren a pretty good feel of what was going on in his pants.

 

It was becoming apparent that Levi’s brain flew out the window whenever he was turned on, so Eren took it upon himself to be the sensible person in this situation. He turned his head again, managing to free his mouth for long enough to get a single word out.

 

“Door.”

 

 

 

They both paused to look over at the still open door. Fortunately, they were to the side of it, so anyone that passed by wouldn’t have been able to see anything. But still, it would be rather inconvenient if someone were to walk in.

 

Eren rushed over to the door, taking notice of the fact that Levi was tagging along and staying very close to him, then flung it shut and secured the lock. He turned back to Levi, who was watching him with smouldering mercury eyes and parted lips.  

 

“Should probably go somewhere else…”

 

Eren just stood there, too caught up in Levi’s lustful expression to care about whatever he was saying.

 

They stared at each other for a few seconds, and then Eren was pushed in to the wall again. Levi was back against him in an instant, perfectly happy to continue from where they were up to since neither of them seemed to give a shit. Eren sucked Levi’s bottom lip between his teeth and tugged on it, prompting Levi to claim his mouth again.

 

Levi’s hands came to life, running down the outside of Eren’s thighs before coming back up, easily finding their way underneath his shirt. His fingers trailed along the toned muscles on Eren’s abdomen, then glided around the sides and grabbed on to his waist. Levi pushed his tongue further in to Eren’s mouth and started rocking his hips forward, trying to get some much-needed friction.       

 

Eren could feel Levi’s hardness pressing against his upper thigh, only just missing the mark, and once again cursed their height difference for making things difficult. Levi suddenly tugged at his waist, pulling Eren lower and changing the angle slightly. His startled sound changed into one of pleasure as Levi’s erection rubbed over his own, and Eren automatically tilted one of his legs to the side to allow him better access. It felt incredible, but he wanted more. Eren threw his arms around Levi’s back, thrusting his hips to communicate the demand.

 

And Levi didn’t disappoint; he tightened his grip on Eren’s waist to keep him steady and started roughly grinding in to him. The kiss was abandoned for another mouthful of tanned skin, but Levi went for a lower area this time so that he wouldn’t need to be so gentle. After nosing the edge of the shirt out of the way, he sucked and bit at Eren’s collar bone, uncaring about leaving a mark there. Eren whined and squirmed in his arms, the increased movement against his crotch making Levi inhale sharply.

 

It was time for a change in scenery.

 

 

Eren was confused and disorientated when Levi’s body suddenly disappeared, but then a hand grabbed his wrist and guided him towards the armchair at the back of the room. It never got used, and Eren didn’t know why he wasn’t able to use it instead of the stupid stool… maybe it was Levi’s chair? Eren had been beginning to suspect that he slept in here sometimes.

 

Levi sat down and pulled him on top, allowing Eren to adjust his legs so that he was comfortably straddling him. Realising that he was now in an ideal position, Eren started grinding in to him at a steady pace, tilting his body forward to get full contact. Levi got a fistful of Eren’s tangled hair and guided his head down, pressing their open mouths together for a messy kiss, while he grabbed at Eren’s ass to encourage his movements.  

 

Eren gave up on the grinding and blindly reached his hand out, taking only a second to locate Levi’s strained erection and started kneading it with his palm. A hum of approval gave Eren the sudden burst of confidence he needed. He undid Levi’s belt and pants, timidly sliding his hand down into Levi’s underwear. His hand brushed over the soft skin of Levi’s cock, rubbing his fingers along it as he continued sucking on his tongue.

 

Levi moaned and pushed his hips up, giving Eren’s ass a squeeze before removing his hand to return the favour. After the belt and such were taken care of, Levi decided that he didn’t feel like being modest and pulled Eren straight out of his pants.

 

Eren broke the kiss, cheeks tinting red at suddenly being on display, but he was so turned on that his embarrassment faded within a few seconds. Following by example, Eren tugged the troublesome clothing further down and brought Levi’s cock out in to the open. Taking a moment to examine it, Eren discovered that it was a bit larger than his own, marvelling at how hard and hot it felt in his hand. Eren had never done this to someone else before, but he figured it couldn’t be much different than doing to himself.

 

Wanting to tease Levi a little bit, Eren dragged his fingers down the shaft, then back up to swirl his thumb over the sensitive head. He repeated it until Levi growled and bucked his hips in frustration, then Eren got a firm grip and started moving his hand up and down Levi’s impressive length.

 

“Fuck, that’s it...” Levi praised and spat in to his hand, preparing to perform the same actions on Eren.  

 

That seemed like a smart idea, so Eren pulled away to spit on his hand as well. He scooted closer and went to continue, but he was caught off guard when Levi took both of their erections into his hand and pumped them together. Levi’s hot skin rubbed against his own, the movements fluid and slick from the saliva, resulting in an incredible sensation and some rather obscene noises. “Oh shit, that’s _so_ good.” Eren couldn’t control the string of lewd moans that spilled from his mouth as he thrusted into Levi’s hand; it was the best thing he had ever felt, and Eren knew that he wasn’t going to last long. Wanting to contribute to their pleasure, Eren alternated between gently massaging his palm over their heads and using his thumb to rub at their slits, gathering up the precum as lubrication.  

 

“Ah, fuck.” Levi joined in with his own vocalisations, adding more pressure to both their cocks and speeding up the pace.

 

“Levi…” Eren whimpered. He could feel his orgasm building up, so he wrapped his hand around Levi’s and forced him to go faster. Eren’s body was going crazy, heart racing faster than ever and his muscles starting to spasm. He was so, so close. Barely able speak, Eren tried to get his point across by repeating the only word that made sense in a more urgent tone. “Levi.”

 

Understanding the warning, Levi glanced down and predicted the trajectory. “Shit, wait. I like this shirt.”

 

Eren bit his lip and felt his legs start to tremble, trying to hold himself back as Levi unbuttoned his shirt with his spare hand. His nimble fingers made quick work of it, then Levi pushed it open and exposed his muscled chest and abdomen. Eren moaned and did his best to stop himself from physically drooling over Levi, although he was too out of it to tell if he’d been successful or not. A few more strokes were all it took to push Eren over the edge. Pleasure surged through him and he let out a loud moan, body convulsing as he came all over Levi’s abs and hand.

 

Eren went limp and flopped forward, thankfully avoiding the mess, and breathed harshly against Levi’s shoulder as his body tried to recover. In his blissed-out state, all Eren could focus on was the feel of Levi’s body shifting under him, the fresh smell of his skin, the sound of his heated breath… Eren was completely enveloped in him.

 

 

Once Eren regained some spatial awareness, he realised that Levi was still chasing his own release and the human-blanket wasn’t making things any easier.

 

Straightening himself up and taking the initiative, Eren started kissing Levi’s neck and reached down, gently massaging his balls while Levi moaned and pumped his own cock. After licking up his neck, he moved on to sucking at the sensitive skin. Eren splayed his hands over Levi’s bare chest, dragging his nails down it as he took Levi’s earlobe in to his mouth and nibbled on it. Judging by the types of sounds Levi was producing, he definitely liked it.

 

Eren released Levi’s balls to take his achingly hard cock from him and fisted along his length. Levi grabbed his ass and squeezed it, panting heavily as he rasped out a bunch of profanities.    

 

“Fuck, Eren. I want you... fuck me, I need-” Levi cut himself off with a throaty moan and looked down, watching in a trance as Eren’s hand slid up and down his cock. “Fucking Christ, don’t stop.”

 

Eager to get him off, Eren quickened his pace and added a slight twist near the head. Soon Levi’s hips were desperately trying to buck up underneath him, and Eren was conflicted about where he should look when Levi climaxed. A big part of him wanted to watch Levi’s face, but he decided to do that next time and kept his eyes on the main event.

 

“Fuck, yes, fuck… gonna come. Eren, Eren...”

 

Eren was surprised when Levi’s hips raised with enough force to lift him slightly off the chair. Levi moaned and called Eren’s name once more as his body tensed, cock pulsing in Eren’s hand as thick ropes of cum shot up and coated his own chest.  

 

Eren groaned at the erotic display and gently massaged Levi through it, feeling his muscles twitch from the stimulation. Levi’s whole body quivered towards the end, so Eren promptly took his hand away when he knew it would be getting too sensitive.

 

 

Levi finally relaxed and slumped down into the chair. He closed his eyes, struggling to catch his breath after what was probably the more intense orgasm he’d had in months. “Shit.”

 

Sitting back on his knees, Eren took this opportunity to fully appreciate Levi’s appearance; lab coat and shirt wide open, chest heaving and covered in cum. After taking a moment to properly store the mental image for later review, Eren decided to make himself useful. He rose off the chair, pleased that his legs were functional and lazily wandered over to the sink, tucking himself back into his pants along the way. It was a little damp, but it was manageable since Eren had gotten barely anything on himself.

 

Grabbing some random old rag from the corner, Eren went back to mop up their combined mess, starting with Levi’s hand and then moving on to his chest. He’d gotten some serious height, Eren was impressed. As an after-thought… Levi was lucky that Eren had been aiming him properly, or else he could’ve totally gotten himself in the face. Would that be hot? Eren was on the fence, but he was pretty sure that Levi wouldn’t have appreciated it.

 

With the post-orgasm high fading away, Levi’s eyes half-opened to watch the cloth wiping over him, which lead to a frown. There would be remnants no matter how thorough Eren was. Levi started doing up his pants with a sigh. “I need a shower.”

  
“Yeah…” Eren tilted his head and assessed his handy work, still seeing some glossy patches smeared over Levi’s pale skin. “You really do.” He shamelessly raked his eyes over Levi’s body again, pausing when he saw a faint splotch of purple just below his ribs. “Wow! Look, you have a bruise already!”

  
“Don’t sound so surprised,” Levi snatched the cloth from Eren, convinced that he would do a better job. “You impaled me on a door handle.” With the bulk of it removed and his chest sufficiently dry, Levi got up and tossed the rag in to the sink. He would incinerate it in the furnace at a more convenient time.

 _  
Dramatic as always_. Eren bid farewell to Levi’s muscles as he buttoned his shirt, snickering at the cringe on Levi face as he recoiled away from the fabric. Eren’s body was still singing in bliss and flooded with happy hormones, so he tried pushing his luck. “Do you want to shower together?”

  
“I’d rather not,” Levi replied. He straightened out the rest of his clothing, giving his lab coat a sharp tug and once again looking very professional. “I doubt we’d ever get clean that way.”

  
“True,” There was no doubt in Eren’s mind that he would’ve jumped Levi for round two in the shower. “I still need one though… got a bit sweaty.”

  
“That’s disgusting.”

  
“You didn’t mind it two minutes ago,” Eren gave him with an evil smirk. “And besides, I’m not the one with dried cum on my chest.”

  
Levi was appalled by the comment, as if he needed to be reminded. “That’s it, I’m leaving.” The door was unlocked and thrown open, Levi vanishing through it at an alarming speed.  

  
“Wait!” Eren gave chase, jogging to catch up with Levi and joining him for a broody power-walk down the hall. It was a shame that they were below ground… it would’ve been a great idea to open a window in there.

 

 

 

They entered the foyer and headed up the stairs, almost bowling Hange over as they stormed past.

 

“Woah!” Hange exclaimed and stretched their arms out for balance. “Where are you rushing off to?”

  
Eren was about to give a polite response, but Levi beat him to it.

  
“Hungry, fuck off.”

  
“Huh? But it’s not even fo-”

 

Whatever Hange was saying was cut off as the entrance door slammed shut behind them. Eren was frightened and confused, but it felt kind of nice to be included in Levi’s rampage for once. He struggled to keep up as they sped across the grass. “Did I make you mad by saying that? I was just kidding around...”

  
Levi’s pace relented enough for Eren to catch up. “Everything’s fine, brat. I just really want a shower.”

 _  
Thank god._ Eren was infinitely grateful for Levi’s curt manner of speaking, confident that he would simply say if there were a problem.

 

Eren felt kinda rude for snobbing Hange, but they were probably use to it by now.

 

They made it inside and ascending the stairs, but Eren stopped and wasn’t sure what to do when Levi took off in a direction that he wasn’t familiar with. Eren hovered on the spot for a few seconds, until Levi noticed his absence and indicated for him to follow.

 

 

Once at their destination, Levi put a key into the door and glanced back at Eren. “This is my room.”

  
“Oh.” Eren said, not really sure how else to respond. Maybe he should’ve paid more attention to how they got here? _Whoops._ He watched as Levi unlocked it and stepped inside, and when he didn’t come back, Eren assumed that it was okay for him to enter.

 

Eren walked in and closed the door behind him, thinking that Levi wouldn’t like it left open. He saw that Levi was searching for something in the dresser, presumably a new shirt, and took the opportunity to snoop around.

 

The first thing that grabbed his attention was that Levi’s bed was significantly larger than his own, which would probably come in handy sometime in the near future. It was meticulously made, not a single wrinkle to be seen on the comforter, and Eren wondered if he ever actually slept in it.

 

Moving on, Eren examined the dark wooden desk against the wall, once again neatly organised with several folders and stacks of paper. Other than the dresser Levi was still picking through, the only other pieces of furniture were a jam-packed bookshelf and a dark brown arm chair… not too different to the one they just jerked each other off on. There was another door near the bookshelf, which meant that Levi either had his own bathroom or a walk-in wardrobe.

 

The former would be preferable.  

 

Wandering over to the window, Eren saw that there was a nice view of the forest in the distance. He looked at the ground directly below, shamefully recalling the night he stood down there and almost sent a rock flying through the glass and into Levi’s head. “I like it.”

  
Levi hummed and moved away from the dresser, having finally decided on a shirt. “This doesn’t mean that I want you scratching at my door all day and night.”

  
“Yeah, I know. I’ll always ask you before coming here.” Eren said.

  
“You don’t need to ask,” Levi took off his lab coat and hung it over the back of the desk chair. “Just don’t come here every night. I like my personal space.”

  
“Oh,” Eren turned away from the window to look at Levi, a bit surprised that he’d just let Eren show up whenever he wanted. “Yeah, of course. I do too, and we’re together most of the day anyways, It’d probably be annoying if we never got a second away from each other.” Eren didn’t think that he would particularly mind that, but he was a very social person. The last thing he wanted was for Levi to get annoyed of him being around all the time. “Sooo…” Eren started.

 _  
Oh god_. There it was again. “What?”

  
Green eyes flew to the corner of the room, staring at it like it was suddenly the most interesting thing in the world. “Um… what exactly is going on here? With us?” Eren asked. For all he knew, Levi was just wanting to fool around. Which would be fine with him... but if that were the case, Eren should probably know about it.

  
“Fucked if I know,” Levi helpfully supplied. “I like you, I guess.”

  
It wasn’t much, but it was better than anything Eren had been expecting him to say. “Oh, cool… I like you, too.”

  
Not at all surprised by the response, Levi looked around the room, then down at the folded navy-blue shirt he was holding. “I need to shower now.”

  
“Oh, right.” That was why they came here. “Sorry for holding you up.” Eren headed over to the door, but he stopped when Levi followed and started talking again.

  
“Stop apologising so much, brat.”

  
“Okay, sorry. Shit, sor- I mean, yeap, I’ll try!” Eren smiled.

  
Levi sighed and opened the door. “Just get the fuck out.”

 

 

Once he’d scurried out of the room, Eren turned around just in time to see the door slam in his face. A quiet clicking sound indicated that Levi had locked it, so he gracefully took his leave. Eren turned on his heels and back tracked through the hallway, taking his time to commit the directions to memory.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

  

A quick wash and a change of underwear later, Eren headed downstairs with food on the brain. His charming sister was sitting alone at a table, staring down at a steaming cup of tea with a blank expression. Eren approached and pulled out a chair next to her, plopping himself down with the elegance of an uncoordinated panda.

 

  
Mikasa blinked and shifted her eyes to him. “You look weird.”

  
Whoops, did Eren call her charming? What he had meant to say was _contentious_. “I look weird?” Eren questioned. “Wow, thanks sis’.”

  
“Shut up. You just seem different than usual, less…” She pulled up her scarf and peered at Eren over the top. “Twitchy.”

 _  
Twitchy?_ “I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean,” His body did feel more relaxed after… hanging out with Levi. Trust Mikasa to notice something so minor. Eren pursed his lips and leaned back against the chair. “But I feel like I should be offended.” Eren raised the tea cup to take a sip, having successfully stolen it while she was distracted.

 

“Eren, you finished early.”

 

And he almost spat it back out again. “What?” Eren spluttered.

  
The random comment had come from Armin, who walked over and sat down across from Eren. “I’m just saying that you usually work way later than this, it’s only just past four.”

  
“Oh, yeah. I know,” Eren confirmed, ignoring his scratchy throat that was still ticklish from nearly drowning on a leafy beverage. “We decided to wrap things up early today. Levi was feeling… tried.”

  
“Really?” Armin’s eyes widened, and Mikasa made a strange face as well.

  
“Yeah?” Confused turquoise eyes flicked between them. “Why is that so surprising?”

  
Mikasa grunted and snatched her tea back, carefully eyeing it for any contamination from Eren’s coughing fit. “I heard he has insomnia or some shit.”

  
“Who told you that?”

  
“Petra,” Mikasa shrugged casually.

_  
God damn it, Petra!_

  
“It’s not hard to figure out, anyways.” She continued. “He’s always in the lab way before everyone else, works super late, and then he usually just sits around reading all night until he can start working again.”

 

  
When did Mikasa start paying so much attention to Levi’s behaviour? Although, it’s not that much of a shock. She’s always obsessed with people-watching, mainly out of suspicion. And Eren already knew that her and Levi didn’t particularly get along, seemed this place was only big enough for one Ackerman.

  
 

“Point is,” Mikasa said, finally deciding to abandon her tea and placing it down on the table. “We were surprised when you said he was tired, because he’s never tired.” She paused, having a sudden thought. “I’m a little jealous, actually. I could get way more done if I didn’t have to sleep so much.”

  
“Holy shit, Mikasa...” Eren gaped.

  
She looked bewildered. “What?”

  
“That’s a horrible thing to say!” Eren leaned towards the table, wanting to yell at her but also not wanting anyone else in proximity to hear. “Having insomnia doesn’t stop you from feeling tired. It just means you can’t fucking sleep properly, even if you’re tired as shit. It’s not some kind of super power, it’s awful.”

  
“Sounds like it,” Armin cut in to agree, having been quietly listening to the conversation thus far. His blue eyes squinted at Eren, trying to figure something out. “I didn’t think he’d talk to _you_ about something like that, though. It’s kinda personal, isn’t it?”

  
“Um, well, he hasn’t... but he doesn’t need to, he looks exhausted most of the time.” To be honest, Eren had rudely assumed the same thing and was scolded by Levi in a similar manner. He’d felt guilty as hell for not realising how shitty it was and had apologised profusely, but Levi didn’t seem to hold any grudges over it. Eren figured that it was probably a common misconception.

  
“I don’t blame him for being so… irritable.” Armin said. “I can’t even function on less than six hours.”

  
“You defend him a lot.” Mikasa accused out of nowhere, obviously still feeling salty about being called out by her younger brother.

  
Eren turned his head to glare at her. “Damn right I do, cause you’re always talking shit for no reason!”

  
“I have a reason,” Mikasa stubbornly crossed her arms. “I don’t like him.”

  
“God, just give it a rest already. The only reason you don’t like him is because he’s the only person in existence that isn’t afraid of you.” Eren countered, remembering the terrifying altercation that occurred on their first day. The thought was shoved away, and a smug grin appeared on his face. “Besides me, of course.”

  
“We should probably stop gossiping about our bosses.” Armin said, trying to avoid yet another sibling shouting match.

  
“Yeah, we should.” Eren crossed his arms to match Mikasa’s challenging pose.

  
“There’s nothing else interesting to talk about.” She said.

 

 

And she was mostly correct, one could only chat about the weather for so long. It certainly didn’t help that most of Eren’s thoughts seemed to revolve around Levi… and a particular image was still burned in to his brain, front and centre.

 

Eren absently wondered how long Levi took to shower and was struck by the realisation that he could potentially be naked this very second. Naked, hot and steamy... Water trickling down those hard muscles as Levi slowly rubbed his strong, soapy hands all over his soaking wet body. _Shit_. How the hell was Eren supposed to keep himself from knocking on Levi’s door every time he had a minute to spare? He wanted to barge in there right now, demanding admittance to the shower so that he could assist in lathering Levi up with soap. Then, once he was nice and slippery, Eren would gladly take care of any other difficulties Levi may be experiencing with his body.  

 

 

“Oh, I just remembered something Hange told me this morning.”

  
Eren was reluctantly dragged out of his bubbly fantasy, frantically looking around to make sure he hadn’t been pulling a strange face or panting like a horny animal. Thankfully he hadn’t been, or at least no one had seemed to notice… but now Eren was experiencing a difficulty of his own. Tables were truly a wonderful thing. “Yeah?”

  
“Yeap! I managed to pry to information out of them,” Armin smiled innocently.

  
But Eren knew the truth. Those sparkly aquamarine eyes looked sweet and pure… but if you searched deep enough, you’d see the darkness the lurked within. Throughout Eren’s life, he had compiled a long list of people to never piss off, and Armin definitely made the top five. Although he may have been bumped down a spot to make room for Levi. “Hope you didn’t torture them too much.” Eren joked.

  
“What, me? No way.” He winked at Eren, then his face settled in to a more serious expression. “Some new people are coming in soon, to work on other projects. Erwin was really pushing it, apparently.”

  
“Really?” Eren tilted his head.

  
“Yup,” Armin confirmed. “I’m pretty sure that’s what Erwin wanted to talk to them about when he pulled them away from dinner last night. Hange was complaining that he was telling them both to speed things up, and that more people were coming in to help. They said that Levi was angry about it as well, because one of the new guys will be interfering with his thing. I don’t know what Hange meant by that, but yeah, that’s the low-down.”

  
“What the hell? Levi didn’t tell me anything about that.” Eren couldn’t help feeling anxious, that sounded like some pretty important information. Why wouldn’t Levi tell him? Did it mean that Levi didn’t trust him?

  
“Don’t worry about it, Eren… I doubt he intentionally didn’t tell you. Levi seems like the kind of guy to just ignore things that he doesn’t like, you know.” Armin paused to think, then carried on. “I don’t think they were supposed to tell us, anyways. The only reason I know is because Hange’s got a huge mouth and can’t stop talking.”

 

  
The words made Eren feel a bit better. It was true, Levi did tend to ignore people and situations that pissed him off. Eren will still ask him about it later, though.

  
Maybe after a shower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Interesting tid-bit :   
> I'm pretty much the same height as Levi, and I'd like you to know that I totally squished myself against my door to see where the handle would hit me. 
> 
> Now then, who wants them to fuck on the centrifuge? *raises hand*


	11. Death by Salad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was posted yesterday, but deleted as AO3 was having issues. If you're one of the few people that read this while it was up, I've changed and added quite a few things. This chapter ended up being a bit longer than usual!
> 
> THANKS ~

Levi wasn’t seen again that night. Eren assumed that he had either holed up in his room or taken the longest shower of all time and depleted their water tank. Hopefully the former, because otherwise he would be receiving a bunch of angry letters. Either way, Eren decided that he should resist the temptation to go visit him, figuring that it would pay off in the long run.

The last thing he wanted was to start getting all clingy. Levi probably wouldn’t be very in to that.

 

Eren had slept unsurprisingly well, exhausted from a full day of work and other strenuous activities. Speaking of… Eren did wonder why he and Levi couldn’t seem to simply kiss without it escalating in to a full-on grope fest.

 

He wasn’t complaining, though.

 

It was probably due to weeks of pent up sexual tension and the accompanying frustration. Maybe it would be different now they they’d gotten it out of their systems? Doubt it. God knows what was going on in Levi’s head, but it had only made Eren want the grumpy microbiologist even more.

 

 

 

The sun had gotten high enough in the sky to throw searing rays of light straight in to Eren’s face, kindly reminding him that he’d forgotten to close the curtains last night. Great. He groaned in annoyance and tried to hide under the covers, but it was too late to recover his dream and eventually rolled out of bed. Clothes were flung across the room as Eren scavenged for something clean to wear, making a mental note to do some laundry later on.

 

Eren tried to keep himself clean and tidy, he really did, but more often than not he just couldn’t be bothered. Thankfully there were some unworn clothes taking refuge in the corner, so Eren scooped them up and headed off to take a shower.

 

 

 

Once his low number of self-maintenance tasks were completed, Eren went downstairs in search of breakfast. He stopped in his tracks, startled to see Levi sitting at the table with his back turned.

 

This is what Eren got for waking up early.

 

From his hiding spot in the stairwell, Eren could tell that his dark hair looked somewhat damp, probably having just been in the shower himself. Levi was wearing a thin black jumper, one that Eren thought suited him particularly well... but that wasn’t really saying much, Eren thought he looked great in anything.

 

It was still quite cold in the mornings.

 

Eren watched from the doorway as Levi sipped on a cup of tea, worried that it might suddenly be awkward. It hadn’t felt awkward yesterday, afterwards… but now they were out of the moment, minds no longer clouded by hormones, and they haven’t seen each other for several hours. There had been plenty of time to think about what they did, and Eren wasn’t sure what conclusions Levi might’ve come to.

 

Of course, the insecure voice in Eren’s head was adamant that Levi would turn around and say that he wasn’t interested anymore. Levi was a lot older, so naturally his experience in this field would far outweigh Eren’s. Did Eren do a good enough job pleasuring him? It seemed like it at the time, but Eren couldn’t be sure. Maybe Levi was disappointed that they hadn’t gone further? He recalled Levi asking Eren to fuck him… although, that could’ve just been a heat of the moment thing. Levi hadn’t seemed to have much control over what he was saying.

 

Oh well… if they didn’t talk now, they would just see each other in the lab. And that would probably be worse since that armchair would be present, silently judging them for defiling it.

 

Eren internally repeated his mantra, _It’s only awkward if you make it awkward,_ as he approached the table.

 

 

 

Levi instantly noticed him, eyes flicking up from his tea. “Hi.”

  
“Hi.” Eren repeated, his eyes glued to Levi’s cup. “Um… I’m gonna grab some breakfast, want me to get you something while I’m in there?”

 

 

A nod from Levi sent Eren scurrying in to the kitchen to procure some food. He was disappointed to find a huge bowl of greenery, apparently someone thought it would be an excellent idea to serve fucking salad for breakfast. Eren was right, these people were insane. He took two plates and piled them up, consciously skimping the lettuce and trying to get as many tasty bits as possible. Once satisfied, he balanced the plates on one arm like a well-trained waitress, using his other to pour himself some tea.

 

Eren had recently taken quite a liking to it.

 

He placed his offering in front of Levi, muttering a quite apology for the abundance of leaves on the plate. But at least it wasn’t spinach. Eren sat down across from him, looking down and wondering whether he should eat the lettuce first to get it over with, or last in hopes that he would be full by the time he got to it.

 

Eren glanced up, taking his first proper look at Levi. The dark circles under his eyes were more prominent, his sharp gaze duller than usual, and his skin seemed more washed out... that last one could just be the effect of black clothing, but still. “You look like crap?” Left Eren’s mouth before he had a chance to stop it, clueless as to why his voice made it sound like a question. 

  
The piece of lettuce hanging off Levi’s fork halted just before reaching his mouth, probably thankful for being granted a few extra seconds of pitiful life. “I just woke up.” Levi replied.

  
“I mean… you don’t look bad, just a bit worn out.” Eren specified, watching Levi’s jaw move as he crunched on the unfortunate leaf, not looking the slightest bit offended. Alright, then. Eren begun picking through his own breakfast, selectively browsing for tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers. Wide turquoise eyes naturally gravitated back to the attractive zombie sitting across from him. Eren went against his own advice and once again spoke without thinking. “Do you think you’re related to my sister?”

  
“Am I… what?”

  
“She’s adopted!” Eren quickly clarified and tensed up in his seat, realising that he hadn’t actually told Levi that before. “So, um… yeah. That wouldn’t be a problem.”

  
“You probably should’ve opened with that.” 

  
“Yup… it’s kinda obvious, though.” Eren twiddled his fork between his fingers, trying to come up of something to say. In the end he opted to stop thinking about, because he’d never had problems finding things to talk about before. “That reminds me. I like the way you smell, and apparently that means we’re genetically compatible.”

 

Levi raised an eyebrow, intrigued but also cautious.

 

“I’m reading about it in my book. We’re more attracted to the smell of people with different immune systems to our own, to make healthy offspring.” Eren reached for his tea, enjoying how it warmed his hand and took a small sip. “And you smell amazing to me, so… if we had a baby, it would probably be like, the best baby ever.”

  
Levi impaled a carrot on his fork and gave Eren a withering look. “You do know that I’m a man, right?”

  
The tea was placed back on the table, and Eren decided to risk being a smartass. “Yes, Levi. I am familiar with your anatomy.” The remark was well worth the soul crushing glare. At least Levi’s eyes were starting to look more alive. “My nose doesn’t care.”

  
“Your nose can fuck off.”

   
“You smell kinda like dirt.”

   
“Dirt?” Levi scowled, and Eren would’ve sworn that his hair poofed up a little bit. Much like a defensive cat. “Seriously? If you’re trying to piss me off, it’s working.”

   
“Not dirty dirt. I mean dirt-dirt,” Eren waved his fork around, trying his utmost to explain the comparison. “Like… actual dirt.” Levi looked just about ready to attack, eyes gradually narrowing as Eren continued to fumble. “Oh! Soil! That’s the word.” Eren smiled. “It smells fresh and clean, natural. Especially after it’s rained. It’s a compliment.”

   
Scrutinising silver eyes flicked over Eren’s form. “I’m going to confiscate that book off you. There are enough weird ideas floating around in your head as it is.”

   
“No!” Eren gasped. “I like it.”

   
“Too bad, it’s past the return date.” Levi finished off his tea and watched Eren’s face. It was much too obstinate for his liking. “Then I’ll just take it.”

   
“Good luck,” Eren scoffed and leaned forward. “You’ll never be able to get it.”

   
Levi tilted his head, he had no clue what that meant. “What, it’s hidden or something?”

   
“Hah! No,” Eren basked in warm glow his impending victory, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face. “My room’s a tip!” Levi’s eyes slightly widened, surprised by the declaration, and Eren took as recognition of his crushing defeat. “You won’t even be able to step foot inside, let alone rummage through my piles of dirty clothes.”

   
Levi’s face scrunched up in to a deep cringe, successfully deterred from ever attempting to enter Eren’s room. “God, that’s fucking disgusting.”

   
“It’s like a salt circle to keep demons out,” His fork pointed at Levi menacingly. “But it repels shitty book-stealing magpies instead!”

   
Levi glowered as his nimble fingers plucked a cherry tomato off his plate. “I told you not to call me that.”

   
“What’re you gonna do about it?”

   
“I’ll squeeze this tomato’s guts into your eye.” Levi held up said tomato between his thumb and index finger, ready to squish it at a moment’s notice.

   
“That… would probably hurt a lot.” Eren instinctively shielded his eyes, even though he knew Levi wouldn’t actually do it. Probably. He peeked out from between his fingers, relieved to see that Levi had lowered the threatening tomato. “Your methods of torture are pretty imaginative, you should write a book on it or something.” Eren forked a piece of cucumber in to his mouth, chewing on it as he entertained the idea. “How about… 101 ways to inflict excruciating pain with seasonal vegetables?”

   
Levi crunched the numbers in his head. “That’s doable, you’d be surprised by how many ways you could kill someone with a cabbage.”

 

_Note to self; never leave Levi unattended in a vegetable patch._

 

Levi forced down another mouthful of bland lettuce as he eyed Eren. “Tomatoes are fruit, by the way.”

   
“Really?” You learn something new every day. Eren stared down at the misunderstood fruit on his plate, while Levi hummed and continued eating. Well, he had successfully managed to initiate casual conversation. The atmosphere felt comfortable enough, and Levi seemed to be in a chatty mood... time for Eren to tackle a few of his irrational fears. “So, um… what happened yesterday was interesting.”

   
Levi tapped the fork against his lips, taking his time to carefully examine Eren’s face. “What are you referring to?”

   
“I mean the, um… you know, when we-” A devilish smirk appeared behind the utensil, cutting Eren’s horrible explanation short. “Oh, you’re joking. Hilarious.” Levi sat quietly and watched him, rightfully assuming that Eren had a reason for bringing it up. “So, um… did you, like it?”

   
After taking a moment to process the question, Levi finally took the fork away from his mouth and placed it on the table. “Do you seriously need to ask?”

   
“Well… no, maybe.” Eren tried not to fidget. “I don’t want to assume anything, especially with you.”

   
“Then yes, I did.” Levi answered.

   
Eren reached out for his tea cup, starting to rotate it his hand. He needed somewhere to look that wasn't Levi's eyes. “So, you’d be interested in… similar activities?”

   
“That’s why I showed you where my room is, dipshit.” Levi glared down at his remaining pile of lettuce, clearly not intending to eat anymore. It was probably only rinsed once. He knew what could be lurking in those seemingly harmless vegetables. “You better not want to have pointless conversations like this every time.”

   
“What if I do?” Eren asked. “I think it’s important to make sure we’re on the same page.”

   
“Then I might regret allowing you in my room.” Levi added a little colour to his voice, ensuring that Eren could tell he wasn’t being serious. It wasn’t at all surprising that Eren wanted to talk about this shit, and Levi would oblige if he had any idea what to say. “But I needn’t worry, you have the attention span of a goldfish. You’ll forget the way in a few days.”

  
“Nah-uh, I totally drew a map.”

   
It sounded ridiculous, but Levi believed it. “You need a brain transplant.”

   
“Whatever,” Eren chewed on his lip and watched the liquid swirl around his cup. It was oddly hypnotic. “I know you don’t like talking about it, okay. I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on.”

   
Levi sighed and ran a hand through his hair, the stands quickly falling back into place. “I’m no expert on how this shit’s supposed to work, brat. It’s rare for me to find a guy who’s both attractive and doesn’t make me want to gouge their eyes out.”

   
“Naww, you don’t want to mutilate me?” Eren smiled and fluttered his eyelashes. While he had noticed that Levi had called him attractive, in a round-about way, he thought it best to just accept the compliment and not draw attention to it. Levi didn’t dish them out very often. “That’s so sweet, Levi.”

   
“Only sometimes.” Levi clarified. _Only_ when he broke equipment, said something painfully moronic, or failed to follow simple instructions... which was far more often than sometimes, but surprisingly Levi didn't find him too irritating. Yeap, something was definitely wrong with him. “For some ungodly reason, I find your unique brand of stupidity somewhat tolerable.”

   
And the compliments just kept on coming. Eren released his cup and put his elbow on the table, gingerly resting his chin atop his hand. “I never pegged you for a romantic.” Eren teased, but there was no reaction. His brain finally caught on to Levi’s specific word choice. “Oh, so does that mean you only like guys?”

  
“It does.”

  
“Huh…” Eren said and stuck a carrot chunk in his mouth, trying to seem nonchalant about it. But internally, he was preening over this new piece of information and rubbing his hands together like a grubby little fly. Someone needed to break the news to Petra. The poor girl never stood a chance, what a crying shame.

 

 

A blinding flash of yellow caught Eren’s attention, and he watched as Armin slowly approached the table, his hesitant movements reminding Eren of a timid baby animal. He was probably unsure about Levi’s presence… and the fact that Eren was out of bed at this hour.

  
Armin moved around the table to sit next to Eren. “You’re up early,” He looked across at Levi, who had decided to eat some more despite his hygiene concerns and was slowly chewing as he stared back at the intrusive coconut. “What’re you guys talking about?”

  
Eren turned to him and smiled. “Salad.”

   
“Death by salad.”

   
“Oh,” Armin glanced between the two of them, intentionally avoiding Levi’s eyes. “Sounds… fun.”

   
“Did you know tomatoes are fruit?” Eren asked. 

   
“Seriously?” Armin made a confused face. Eren was just about to start celebrating, but then Armin spoke again. “Who doesn’t know that?”

 

Eren went as red as the fruit of which he spoke.

 

Levi chuckled in his throat, finding Eren’s embarrassment quite amusing. The brat had been left speechless for once, which was a fucking miracle in and of itself. At least Levi wasn't the only one that enjoyed teasing him for his intellectual short comings.

 

The cheerful sound from across the table startled Armin deeply. He stared at the source with a shocked expression, as if he had previously thought Levi physically incapable of laughing. Which honestly, he had. Except for that one time he almost pissed himself downstairs, but Armin assumed that had just been a psychotic mental breakdown. Levi noticed the attention and returned the stare, and Armin immediately felt himself shrivelling up from the intensity of it. Anxious blue eyes shot over to Eren, silently pleading for help, but all he received was a half-assed shrug. “I’m… gonna get breakfast.” Armin pushed out his chair and leaped up, beating a hasty retreat into the safety of the kitchen.

 

 

The second he was out of sight, Eren kicked Levi under the table and hissed at him. “Stop scaring my friends!”

  
Levi winced as the boot made contact with his shin. At this rate, that abusive little shit was going to cover him in bruises, and not the good kind. He targeted Eren to the same chilling glare, but sadly it didn’t have as much of an effect. None at all, really. Levi needed to up his game. “They need to learn some manners.”

  
“Whatever,” Eren said and crossed his arms, sounding as snarky as possible. “You’re not so polite yourself.”

   
“Only brats need to be polite.” Levi abruptly stood up, and Eren glanced at the table to find that Levi had stolen his plate at some point. “Go set up the lab as usual, I’ll be there once I clean up.”

 

 

Eren turned to watch Levi stride in to kitchen, dishes in hand. He considered following and insisting to help, but he decided that he’d just let Levi scratch his compulsive cleaning itch. Eren did enough dishes in the lab.

 

While he had a moment alone, Eren ran through the conversation in his head to do a final fact check. Levi said that he enjoyed it. Yes. Levi said that he wanted more of it. Double yes. Was Levi only interested in having casual sex? Insufficient data; check again later. Eren was too bubbly about his confirmations to worry about it right now.

 

Eren’s musings were interrupted when a high-pitched yelp rang out from the kitchen. Armin probably thought he'd been followed, and that Levi was planning on murdering him with a stalk of celery.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

This wasn’t right.

 

Eren had made it to the lab, and he was now standing in the doorway, staring at something that shouldn’t be in there.

 

Or rather, someone.

 

There was _someone_ inside, casually leaning against the bench and examining some of Levi’s stuff. Eren didn’t know who this person was, why they were here, or what he was supposed to do about it. It was a man, a bit taller than himself, with two toned hair. Ashy-brown on top and a darker colour underneath. It looked like an undercut, somewhat similar to Levi’s, except this guy was more reminiscent of a poorly-shaved poodle. Or maybe…

 

But he was wearing a lab coat, which meant that he wasn’t a random person off the street that had snuck his way in.

 

Eren straightened his back when the stranger suddenly noticed him hovering in the doorway. He locked eyes locked with the man’s light olive-brown ones.

 

“Who are you?” The guy asked, taking in Eren’s appearance with an unimpressed expression.

   
“What? I work here.” Eren replied. That asshole stole his line. “Who are you?” Now that they were facing each other, Eren could see the name sewn on to the front of his lab coat. _Kirstein_.

   
“You don’t look like you work here.”

 

Eren glared at the suspicious man, now known as _Kirstein_. What’s that comment supposed to mean, anyways? It was probably because Eren wasn’t wearing his own coat... he leaves it in the lab so that it doesn’t get lost forever in his mountain of clothes. “Well, I do.” Eren said, crossing his arms in an attempt to appear threatening. Just who the hell did this guy think we was, anyways? Waltzing in here and talking to Eren like _he_ was the intruder. Eren's arms dropped back to his sides when he heard quick footsteps coming down the hall. He shuffled in to the room, clearing the doorway just in time for Levi to make his grand entrance.

 

Levi stopped under the door-frame and thoroughly inspected the newest addition to the room, eyes narrow and a huge frown on his face. Great, this was exactly what he fucking needed. 

 

They stood in tense silence for a several seconds. Eren was beginning to worry about how perfectly still Levi was being, he looked like a pissed-off scarecrow.

 

The new guy was obviously bothered by the gunmetal eyes piercing in to his skull, as most people would be. He shifted his weight on his feet before trying to break to ice. “Hey, are you Levi?”

 

Everyone in the room knew that was a stupid question. Levi had already changed in to his lab coat, and so his name was on full display for anyone with at least one semi-functional eye to see. It could be that he didn’t know Levi’s last name, but that was pretty unlikely.

 

Levi finally recovered from his catatonic state, scowl deepening as he blinked for the first time since entering the room. “You have ten seconds to explain who you are and what the fuck you’re doing in my lab.”

  
“O-of course!” _The Kirstein_ looked startled by the not-so-warm greeting, but he did as he was told. “My name is Jean Kirstein, I’m going to be working with you from now on. Director Erwin said that I-” Jean stopped mid-sentence when Levi suddenly turned around and left, his mouth hanging open in shock. 

 

 

His ten seconds were up.

  

 

After giving _Jean_ a shitty look, Eren spun on his toes to chase after Levi. He suspected that Levi was about to kick someones ass, and Eren didn't want to miss it. He quickly caught up and attached himself to Levi’s side, and then they were storming out again.

 

  
When they emerged into the foyer, Eren got a surprise when Oluo appeared from out of nowhere and joined up to flank Levi’s other side, turning their duo in to a trio. Eren fell back into V-formation, leaving Levi to lead the way, and whispered across to Oluo. “Are you storming out with us?”

   
“I am,” Oluo replied, sticking his nose in the air. “But not with you. I’m storming out on my own, you just happen to be storming out at the same time.”

   
“Oh.” Eren looked straight ahead. Levi’s shoulders looked really tense, maybe he should give him a massage later. The sound of their boots collectively clacking against the tiles sounded fucking awesome. Is that why Levi does this so often?

 

 

White coats flapped in the wind as the angry flock hastily made its way across the freshly cut grass. They entered the residential building, where Levi led the charge in to an obscure hallway behind the stairs.

 

 

Eren officially had no idea where they were going, but he could make an educated guess. He yelped as Oluo shoved past him in the thin corridor, then nearly jumped out of his skin at the loud bang of wood slamming against wood.

 

They barged in to a room at the end of the hall, the door of which Levi had presumably kicked open, and found Erwin sitting calmly with his hands clasped on top of his desk.

 

The tall blonde seemed to have been expecting a seething Levi to pay him a visit, but he did look slightly surprised by his entourage. Erwin’s icy eyes passed over Eren, assuming that the boy had been dragged in to this madness against his will, finally landing them on his other guest. “Oluo, I didn’t expect you to join in with Levi’s little rampage.” 

   
“No!” Oluo announced, his ego clearly wounded. “I’m not with them!” He pointed an accusing finger to the other side of the room, the general direction of where Levi and Eren were standing. “My storm-out was independent of theirs, we just happened to do it at the same time. I did not “join in”, I am here on my own accord!”

   
Levi didn’t appreciate his time being wasted over something so trivial. “Can it, Bozado. No one gives a shit.” His sharp glare remained on Erwin, awaiting that asshole’s explanation. He already knew why they were here.

   
Oluo crossed his arms and sulked. He was unhappy and annoyed, but not enough to start a fight with Levi while the man was already in such a state.

   
“Moving on,” Erwin called the attention back to himself. “I assume this is about our new employees?”

   
“Employees?” Levi felt his left eye twitch, miraculously resisting the impulse to punch Erwin's eyebrows straight off his face. “You must be joking.”

   
“I’m afraid not.” He held eye contact with Levi, completely forgetting that there were two other people in the room and solely addressing him. “I have talked to you about this before, although you did seem quite distracted at the time…” Erwin paused to consider that evening, but he recalled nothing of interest and got back to the situation at hand. “They are from a research facility that was lost when Wall Maria fell, and they have just recently been authorised to relocate and resume their work. They will be staying here, indefinitely.”

   
“What about the little shit in my lab?” Levi snapped and took a step closer to the desk. “He isn’t much older than Jaeger, you can’t seriously expect him to carry out independent research on his own.”

   
“Kirstein has been through the Scout’s science programme, and he did exceptionally well. So yes, that is exactly what I expect.”

   
Levi narrowed his eyes. “I don’t need another brat to babysit,” He pointed over his shoulder to target Eren, who was silently following the exchange from the back of the room. “This one causes enough trouble on his own.”

   
Erwin took a deep breath, continuing in a calm but authoritative tone. “As I said, Kirstein has been properly trained and will be working on his own assignments. You’ll hardly notice him.” He tapped a calculating finger against the wooden desk. “We need as many people working as possible, and our facility has plenty of room to spare. That’s all there is to it.” The tapping stopped. “I’m sure you’ll be able to adapt. You’ve always been excellent at that, Levi.”

   
“What about me?” Oluo suddenly piped up again, attracting all the eyes in the room. “Petra and I work best on our own. Now we have _another_ teenage girl to deal with?! How this is supposed to make us more productive?”

   
“Blouse is in the same situation as Kirstein.” Erwin blinked, not all impressed by the interruption. “Please refer to everything I have already said.”

   
“But she’s a total air-head!” Oluo raised his hands, using them to perform a variety of exasperated gestures. “I just caught that ditz eating a banana in the lab!”

 

 

Eren gasped as his eyes whipped over to Oluo. That banana was his kin. 

 

 

The chair screeched against the wooden floor as Erwin stood up. “Your personal opinion of her is irrelevant. She is an intelligent woman; her results prove as much.” When he was confident that Oluo had accepted defeat and backed down, Erwin turned his attention back to Levi. He was far more interesting. “There is no changing this. It is our duty to cultivate the next generation of scientific minds.”

  
There was a frighteningly silent pause as the well-oiled gears turned in Levi’s head. “Fine.” His abrasive voice cut through the room. Levi stared Erwin down for a while longer, before turning around and taking his leave.

 

Eren followed, not wanting to be left behind and get railed with questions by Erwin. Hopefully Jean wouldn’t turn out to an asshole, although Eren already got had the feeling that he wasn’t going to like him. It was a bit surprised that Levi had rolled over so quickly, Eren had been expecting him to put up much more of fight over their turf. It’s a little disappointing, actually… Eren had tagged along to witness the carnage, after all. Perhaps Levi already knew that it wouldn’t make a difference.

 

 

When they got back to the lab, Levi completely ignored the apologies firing out of Kirstein’s big mouth. This was an outrage. He can’t seriously be expected to share his space with this clueless shithead, one brat was more than enough to test his patience. And now they would barely be able to get a few seconds of privacy. “Grab some shit, brat.” Levi went over to the bench, sending Jean scampering to get out of the way, and picked up his microscope. He cradled the precious machine in his arms, then walked back to the door and called out to Eren. “We’re moving out.”

 

Eren was frozen in shock when Levi disappeared out in to the hall again. He met Jean’s confused eyes, then sprung in to action and gathered up all the paperwork he could get his hands on. The notes and files were probably their most important possessions, and there was no way he was going to let that spiky pony read them. Eren rushed out after him, ignoring the odd pieces of paper that got away and floated down to litter the floor. He somehow struggled to catch up even though Levi was carrying a rather heavy microscope. “What are we doing?”

 

Levi made a sharp turn and headed down the stairs. “If Shitwin’s going to whore out my lab, we’ll take our business elsewhere.”

 

They carried on until they reached their destination, an unused room on the second floor. Levi planned to move their entire lab down here, leaving their new colleague with nothing but an empty room and a dirty sink. Eren was more than happy to take part in the rebellion, he knew that Levi wouldn’t just accept this. They were fighting back. But then… it was going to take a horrendously long time to get everything down here, especially since most the equipment was far from light. It would be a struggle, but he was willing to do it for Levi.

 

 

* * *

 

  

 

They retreated back to the lab once Levi discovered that they couldn’t carry the centrifuge downstairs.

 

The failed move had turned in to quite the ordeal; a crazed whirlwind of shouting, smashing test tubes against the wall, and cussing out several inanimate objects. The main recipient of the verbal abuse had been the centrifuge. Or as Levi had called it, the chronically obese motherfucker.

 

Eren should slap a label on that.

 

Needless to say, it was incredibly awkward when had to carry everything back in to the lab.

 

It was even more awkward when they saw that Jean had made himself comfortable in the armchair.

 

 

Eren blanched at the sight, while Jean cluelessly watched Levi trudge back in with the microscope. “Why is this in here?”

   
Levi paused when he saw what Jean was referring to, then cleared his throat and responded. “That is none of your business.”

   
Eren glanced at Levi. He totally sleeps in here.

   
“Looks like your mutiny didn’t go as planned.” Jean smirked and got up from the chair, thankfully. He wouldn't be so smug if he knew what had transpired where he was just sitting. “Was fun to watch though.”

   
“Shut the hell up, Jean.” Eren glared at him as he started putting the papers back where they belonged.

   
Jean leaned up against the bench, crossing his arms and eyeing Eren suspiciously. “You know my name, so what’s yours? I wasn’t told that anyone else worked in this lab.”

   
“Eren Jaeger. I’m an assistant, I’ve only been here for two months.”

   
“Assistant?” Jean raised an eyebrow, moving on to his next line on enquiry. “I’m fresh out of the science programme, too. Which class were you in?”

   
Eren looked to Levi for help, but he was too preoccupied with setting up the microscope. “Um… I wasn’t in the programme. Or anything.”

   
“Seriously?” Jean gaped. “Then why the hell are you here? This is one of the best research facilities, you can’t just walk off the street and get a position here.”

   
“That’s exactly what I did.”

   
“He’s a volunteer.” Levi chimed in, head still down as he fiddled with the magnification.

   
Jean was skeptical, but this was his first day and didn’t want to screw himself over by arguing too much. Instead, he decided to pick on his brand new, severely under-qualified assistant. “Great. I was worried that I was going to have some competition around here, but obviously not.”

   
What a jack-ass. Eren knew that he wasn’t going to like him. Well, if this was to be his new enemy, he may as well start off strong. “I dunno, Jean…” Eren said in a mock-sympathetic tone. “The horses out in the stables are well-bred, you won’t win best in show that easily.”

   
“What the fuck did you just say?!”

   
Levi overheard the remark and immediately abandoned the microscope. The scent of blood was just far too tempting. Usually Levi abstained from what most people would define as bullying, especially over a person's appearance, but he currently couldn’t care less about the equine space-invader’s feelings. And besides, chivalry dictates that he must back up _his_ brat. Levi looked at Jean, expression bored and emotionless as usual. “He was implying that you have a horse-like quality about you.”

   
Jean’s mouth opened and closed, rather like a blubbering trout, until he eventually found his voice again. “You know what? Screw you guys, I’m gonna go study somewhere else.” Jean pushed off the bench and stormed out of the room, nearly slipping on one of the papers Eren had yet to pick up off the floor.

 

“Yeah right…” Eren collected the now crumpled sheet of paper. “He’s totally going to check out the stables.”

   
Levi walked over to stand next to him. How would eyebrows react if he locked Jean out of the lab? Badly, he'd guess. “He’s going to be a huge pain in the ass.”

   
“It’ll be fine,” Eren searched Levi’s silver eyes, then bravely leaned forward to connect their lips. Levi was taken by surprise, but he didn’t take long to return the slow kiss. It felt different this time, a little bit sweeter and not rushed by desperation.

   
They eventually separated, and Eren felt butterflies in his fluttering in chest when he looked into Levi’s eyes. He reached for Levi’s hand and rubbed his thumb along the back of it, grinning like a pleased cat. “We can gang up on him.”

   
Levi raised a curious eyebrow and reciprocated the touch, moving his hand to press his fingertips against Eren’s palm. “That’s not very nice.”

   
“I just…” Eren paused, overwhelmed by the strong feelings rushing through him. It couldn’t be contained any longer, he needed to say something. “I can’t believe he sat in the chair!” He burst out in hysterical laughter, hanging on to Levi’s coat to stop himself from collapsing onto the floor as the giggling fit took over his body.

 

 

Levi just shook his head.

 

 

“You shouldn’t let that kid cling to you like that.”

  
Eren squeaked and released Levi’s lab coat, falling to the floor and landing flat on his ass.

  
Levi blinked down at brat at his feet, admittedly feeling a bit strange to hear someone refer to Eren as a kid. He had just kissed him, and he… Levi turned to the door. “The fuck do you want?”

  
“Just stopping by to congratulate you on your momentous failure,” Oluo drawled and leaned up against the doorframe, watching with disinterest as Eren clambered to his feet. Levi shot him a deadly glare. Oluo cleared his throat and averted his eyes. “Not really. I’m just avoiding going back to the excess of females in my lab.”   

  
“That doesn’t explain why you’re bothering me.” Levi said and glanced over at Eren. The brat didn’t seem hurt from the fall; his well-toned ass must’ve provided enough cushioning. It sure felt like it would, those firm cheeks felt like they'd be very comfortable for Levi to press his hips against... shit.

  
“I might actually prefer Jaeger over my new charge. I went back to my lab before, to relay the details back to Petra, and that stupid girl was eating again!” Oluo made an annoyed smacking sound with his mouth. He froze, hit by a sudden realisation. “What if they all sync up?” He asked. “Women do that, right?”

  
This day was among Levi’s most hated. “I hope you know that you’re an asshole.”

  
“It’s a legitimate concern,” Oluo huffed dismissively and looked around the room. Levi’s lab was uncharacteristically messy, with equipment left out and random pieces of paper sitting around the place. He shrugged, it was none of his concern. “You might be interested to know that Zacharias is here, too.”

  
“Really?”

  
“It’s unsurprising, though. If they could only relocate a few people, it makes sense to send the best. He’s in Hange’s lab, which is incredibly unfair.” Oluo leaned back and glanced down the hallway. “They get the cool guy, and we’re stuck with the newbies.” He looked back at Eren, who had moved away and was aimlessly fiddling around with a stack of papers. Oluo figured that he was busying himself so that he wasn't intruding on their conversation. At least the boy had a scrap decency. “Well… this was lovely, but I need to go make sure Blouse hasn’t eaten my files.”

 

 

Eren heard him leave and put down his improvised prop. It sounded like Levi knew that guy Oluo mentioned, but to what capacity? Eren turned to watch Levi put away the stuff that was still left out from their attempted move. Levi seemed happy that this Zacha-whatever guy was here, which meant they were friends at least.

  
It was time for Eren to do some snooping.

 

* * *

 

 

[Link to something horrible](https://i.imgur.com/m4flm2o.jpg)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise, Sasha is here too! 
> 
> Huge thank you to everyone that takes the time to leave kudos or a comment, it makes me day and I love hearing your feedback/opinions! The support really heaps and motivates me to write :D Love you all!


	12. Brunch

_Holy._

 

_Fucking._

 

_Shit._

 

“Good morning, my beautiful viridian seahorse!”

 

The squealing managed to unfreeze Eren’s mind, freeing him the comatose state he had been in for the past ten seconds. It may have been longer, he truly had no idea. Eren was lost to time.

 

Since the majority of yesterday was spent reorganising the lab and running around after Levi, he had waited until today to start digging up dirt on his new colleagues.

 

The infiltration of Hange’s lab had gone smoothly, and Eren was now staring at the broad back of who he presumed to be the Zacha-whatever character he’d heard two sentences about. And _damn_ , he was a big guy. He even had a few inches on Erwin, the tallest man Eren had ever seen… until today.

 

If Hange had been correct about humans sharing some of their DNA with titans, it would be a safe bet that this guy was related to The Colossal.

 

Eren wasn’t quite sure what scenarios his brain had cooked up overnight. He now knew that Levi was only attracted to men, and this person was definitely of the male variety. Based on yesterday’s deductions, Levi knew this guy and whatever sort of relationship they had was a positive one. And since his mind was inherently cruel, Eren had imagined that they might’ve been romantically involved at some point. But now he wasn’t so sure.

 

Would that even be possible? Like… _physically_ possible? This was only going by eye, so he may be a bit off, but Levi wouldn’t even come close to reaching this guy’s shoulders. It certainly raised a few health and safety concerns.

 

Not that Eren would judge, if that were the case. It wouldn’t be ideal, but he knew that Levi was considerably older and would’ve had a life prior to their meeting. He was under no delusions about that… Eren just wanted to scope this shit out.

 

“Helloooo?”

  
A hand waving across his line of vision pulled Eren back to reality, and he realised that everyone was now staring at him. “Hi!” The sudden noise must’ve startled Hange because their hand disappeared, letting out a loud yelp as they shot back across the room. “Sorry…” Eren said, reaching up to awkwardly rub his neck. “Guess I still haven’t woken up properly.”   

  
“No worries, sweetie...” Hange recovered and dusted themselves off, then readjusted their glasses that had shifted in their haste to escape. “I thought you might’ve been sleep walking.”

  
Eren laughed. Wouldn’t that be funny? He hasn’t sleep-walked since… well, he can’t say. He would’ve been asleep at the time.

  
“Morning, Eren!” Armin greeted from his designated spot in the room. “How was the confrontation with Erwin?”

  
“You know about that?” Eren asked.

  
“Yeah!” Hange butted in before Armin could continue. “Gossip spreads at the speed of light around here!” They were too distracted to notice the nervous look on Eren’s face. “Wish I’d been there to see it, I looove watching my little munchkin throw down!”

  
“It wasn’t that bad, he just tried to move our lab downstairs. But, um… it didn’t work out.” Eren shrugged. Hange’s snort went unnoticed, his attention had already returned to the stranger in the room.

  
Hange followed his eyes and squawked. “Oh yes! I don’t believe you two have met, how rude of me!” Hange clapped their hands together, then gestured wildly to the dirty-blonde standing to the side. “Introducing my new partner in crime, the spectacular Mr. Zacharias!”

  
That was Eren’s cue to step forward and extend his hand out. “Hey, I’m Eren. Nice to meet you Zach… ah-”

  
“Mike.”

 

That’s a bit easier. Eren smiled and took his hand. He had a very firm handshake, that’s supposed to tell you something about a person, isn’t it? Eren couldn’t remember what, but he was pretty sure it was a posi… wait, was this guy smelling him?

 

Eren tilted back as his personal space was invaded, and yes, Mike had leaned down and was currently getting a good sniff of Eren’s head and shoulders. It wasn’t even subtle, he was snuffling away like a fucking blood hound. Excellent, this place was in dire need of another weirdo. “Um…”

  
“You’re freaking him out.” Moblit stepped up to save the day. He was in the room too, apparently. Eren hadn’t noticed.

  
“Just let it happen, Eren.” Armin giggled as he watched Eren struggle to escape the intrusive nose. “That’s just something he does, we all got the same treatment. My sniff-down was just as thorough.”

  
Well, at least Eren wasn’t alone in this. Mike finished gathering his scent profile and returned to his normal posture, while Eren’s eyes shifted around trying to read his face. He was suddenly feeling a little self-conscious… hopefully he didn’t smell bad.

 

 

Their eyes met.

 

 

“You smell like Levi.”

 

 

Okay. Firstly, why was this guy so familiar with Levi’s personal scent? He was given the impression that they hadn’t seen each other for a long time, you’d think he would’ve forgotten what Levi smelt like by now.

  
And secondly, _shit._ “Really?” Eren blurted out. “Huh… um, well that’s… random?” He laughed awkwardly, looking around to see how everyone else was responding to the comment.

  
“Wow, spot on!” Hange praised. “You never cease to amaze me, Mike. I reeeaally wish you’d let me do some tests on your nose!” Hange held their hands up and wiggled their fingers, imagining all the wonder scientific advancements they could make, but they deflated when it became apparent that Mike wasn’t going to offer up his face for dissection. Instead, it looked like he was expecting an explanation of sorts. “Eren’s his assistant, so they’re around each other pretty often.”

  
“I see,” Mike said. “That’d explain it.”

  
Yes, that would explain it. Definitely.  

 

Just how good was this guys sense of smell, anyways? Eren hadn’t even been in the same room as Levi today, and he’d had a rather lengthy shower this morning. For various reasons. Maybe it was his clothes? Eren had forgotten to do his laundry again, so the shirt he was wearing is currently on round two… but even so, that’s insane.

 

Forget dogs, Mike had the nose of a fucking elephant. What other things could his nose pick up on?

 

Thinking about it made Eren feel self-conscious again. He probably reeked of cheap soap, masturbation, and old salad dressing.

 

But it wasn’t all bad. Mike had mentioned Levi first, unwittingly providing Eren with an excuse to further explore the topic without seeming overly-interested. Eren looked up at his new acquaintance. “Oh… you already know Levi, then?”

  
“Yeah, since he changed over to this side of the Survey Corps.” Mike replied, and Eren raised his eyebrows to indicate that was interested in hearing the entire story and every excruciatingly small detail. “Levi was a lot older than the other recruits and had an excellent mind, so I let him join my research team instead of going through the science programme. Was only two or so years before he got permission to lead his own work, he’s a very intelligent man.” Mike ended his brief synopsis with an affirmative head nod.

  
Eren had to stop himself from frowning at the tacked-on compliment, and then scolded himself for being so silly. It is possible for intelligence to be admired in a platonic sense, holy shit. “Cool.” Eren said.

  
What he really wanted to say was, _“keep your ginormous hands off him or I’ll dunk your stupid fucking nose into a vat of bleach”_ , but that might’ve raised a few suspicions.

  
Eren waited for additional information, but Mike didn’t say anything more. He had obviously missed the part where Eren’s face said every excruciatingly small detail, but no matter. Eren had other chickens to roast. “Well, I better get going.”

  
“Aww, already?!” Hange cried and sprung forward, enveloping Eren in their constricting arms before he had a chance to dodge it. “Stay longer next time, Pumpkin.” They squeezed a squeak out of Eren, potentially due to a collapsed lung. “We can gossip, do blood tests on each other, pig out on snacks... you know, all the fun stuff friends so!”   

  
Moblit sighed and hurried over to them. “Hange…” He scolded as he pried her claws from Eren, successfully preventing a broken rib. “You shouldn’t say things like that, it makes people nervous.”

  
“Wah?” Hange allowed themselves to be detached from their prey and glanced at Moblit. “Nervous about snacking?” They looked back at Eren. “Don’t worry about your weight, sugar plum. It’s nothing a quick endurance test won’t fix!”

  
“No, that’s not… never mind.” Moblit decided to give up, shrugging at Eren and going back to his work, but stopped along the way. “Oh. Eren, I just remembered… could you tell Levi his new culture plates are here? Arrived this morning, I’ve already put them downstairs.”

  
Well, isn’t he a peach. “Sure,” Eren shimmied a little bit, glad to have full movement of his arms again. “When I see him.” He exchanged a smile with Moblit, then passed by Armin on his way to the door. “Sup?”

  
“Nothin’,” Armin rested his chin in his palm. “The same old. Mike’s a biochemist, so hopefully he can help move things along in here.” Armin had been looking at the same microscope slides for a week. He was so god damn bored. “It’s weird that he knows Levi though. Small world, huh?”

  
“Yeah.” It was all Eren could say. He followed Armin’s gaze back to Mike, who had already resumed whatever he’d been doing when Eren barged in. Eren had read a little about biochemistry in his book. It seemed quite difficult, and he understood even less words than usual. Levi probably knew those words, they could talk to each other about it… would Levi prefer smart guys?

  
“I’m jealous.”

  
Eren’s eyes snapped back to Armin. “What?”   

  
“All the exciting stuff happens in your lab. Probably cause Levi’s always storming out or threatening someone, but still…” Armin sighed. “I wanna get dragged along to a confrontation or something. Hange’s surprisingly quite when they’re working, and the occasional squeals get monotonous after a while...”

  
“You’ll take that back when you meet our new guy, he’s a total douche.” Eren said. He’d prayed that Jean’s existence had just been a horrible nightmare, but then Eren ran into him in the hall this morning. Eren had snobbed him… after making horse noises at him from around the corner, of course. He’d had no idea where the deranged neighing was coming from, and Eren had barely been able contained his laughter. “Kay, I better go for real now.”

  
“Seeya.”

 

Eren returned Armin’s farewell hand gesture before setting off to his next destination.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Upon arrival, the first thing Eren noticed was a sulking brunette sitting on the floor in the corner, face to the wall.

 

“Oh great… another one,” Oluo’s sarcastic voice droned as he turned to look at Eren. “Are you lost, kid?”

  
Petra slapped his upper arm. “Cut it out Oluo, or no one will want to be your friend.” She daintily brushed her fringe to the side and smiled. “Nice to see you, Eren. Got the day off?”

  
“You too. And yeah, I guess so.” Eren replied. Both of those statements were, for the most part, completely false. He wasn’t sure what the time was… but he should wrap up this reconnaissance mission soon. Eren approached the sullen pony tail in the corner, noticing that the owner was not-so-discretely watching him from beneath dark-auburn bangs. “Hey, I’m Eren. Are you, um… Blouse?”   

  
She spun around on her butt, leaving the wall behind to fully face Eren. “That’s what the old people call me. My name’s Sasha.” She said. “So… you’ve been here a while, yeah? Reckon you cou-”

  
“Don’t speak to her!” Oluo growled.

  
Eren jumped at the sudden outburst. “What, why?”

  
“She’s in time-out,” He crossed his arms and glared at her. “For disregarding safety; she was caught eating an apple while working again.”

  
“You’re so mean!” Sasha wailed. “How’m I supposed to concentrate when I’m starving?!”

  
Oluo huffed and turned his head. “That’s what breakfast is for.”

  
“It’s not enough!” She pouted, on the verge of tears over her confiscated apple. 

  
“Too bad!” Oluo raised his voice. “I don’t know what the hell they’re teaching you kids these days, but I’m sure you know the dangers of eating while handling hazardous substances! How you passed you classes is a mystery, but if it were up to me I’d thr- HMMPF!” Oluo’s rant was cut short by his teeth sinking down into his tongue.

 

Eren clasped a hand over his mouth, physically holding in his gasp and successive laughter. A thin line of blood trailed down Oluo’s chin, while Petra tisked at him and shook her head. Eren randomly noticed that she was wearing make-up… trying to compete with the two much younger women, perhaps? It didn’t look bad, actually.  

 

“Oh no, not again!” Sasha gaped at Oluo. “Are you okay?”

  
“He will be,” Petra answered for him, and the still incapacitated Oluo let out a pained gargle. “I don’t know how many times I’ve told him to be more careful...”

  
It was a common occurrence, then. Maybe he had a freakishly long tongue? _Gross_. Eren looked down at Sasha, deciding that it was time to put his most recent plan into action; _operation snack-time_. “Hey Sasha,” Her ponytail tilted back as she looked up at Eren from the floor, eyes wide and mouth agape. “How do you feel about brunch?”

 

Those must’ve been the magic words, because Sasha bounced to her feet and flew out of the room, using her vice-grip on Eren’s wrist to drag him along for the ride. There was a flurry of panicked muffles, which he assumed to be Oluo’s incoherent sounds of protest, but Sasha didn’t so much as slow down.

 

 

Eren liked her already.

 

 

After being forcibly removed from the lab, Eren took the lead and guided them towards the kitchen. They were in luck; Levi’s nerd supplied weren’t the only items delivered this morning. Eren begun rummaging around, while Sasha watched and tried not to choke on the alarming amount of drool pooling in her mouth.

 

“So,” Eren began, still searching through the pantry for something brunchy. “You’re from the same place as the other two guys?”

  
“Yeah…” Her eyes followed Eren’s hands with a singular focus.

  
He obscured the food from Sasha’s view, raising a curious eyebrow at her.

  
“Jean was in my class, we graduated about six months ago…” Sasha licked her lips. “Then we were both assigned to our new station, in the east of Wall Maria, to work under Mike. But we weren’t there very long, had to bail out when the wall got smashed.”

  
“That’s a shame…” It was bizarre for Eren to hear how others experienced the fall of Wall Maria. Most people that successfully evacuated behind Rose wouldn’t have seen a single titan, while he’d had a front-row seat to the massacre of half a district. Eren whipped out a biscuit and chucked it in Sasha’s direction. “But that was a while ago, what’ve you been doing ‘till now?”

  
A quite munching filled the room. “Nothing. There were a few research facilities in the outer ring, so I guess it took a while for them to figure out where to send everyone.” Sasha finished the biscuit, then went about picking the crumbs off her chest. “Sorry if we’re an inconvenience… I don’t want to get in anyone’s way. I’m just here cause it’s where they sent me.”    

 

It sounded as though she felt guilty about it, and Eren couldn’t help feeling bad for her. Sasha had no choice in coming here, and she was on the receiving end of rather shitty welcome. At least she had Petra to back her up, and Mikasa as well.

 

Eren was willing to admit that he could do with some more friends. Sasha seemed like a kind-hearted person, and the other available options were… well, Jean. “Don’t worry about it, you’re not causing any trouble.” He tossed Sasha another biscuit. “You’re actually pretty cool.”

  
“You think?” Sasha smiled, a few stray crumbs falling out of her mouth. “Oluo doesn’t like me though… He’s already told me off more times than I can count, and almost bitten his tongue off.”

  
“I’m sure you could find a way to get along. What if you took snack breaks, and left the lab to eat?” Eren suggested. “Seems like that’s his biggest problem. It’d probably be a good thing anyways, you wouldn’t want to make yourself sick.” 

  
“I’m always careful!” Sasha defended herself. “But yeah, you’re right… I’ll try.” She hummed and ducked past Eren to get access to the pantry, her stomach in need of something more substantial.

 

Eren stepped back to let her tear through the kitchen supplies. This likely wouldn’t be the last time Sasha got in trouble over her insatiable cravings, but hopefully she could reel it in enough to save herself from the time-out corner.

  
“What’s this?”

  
“Huh?” Eren was stunned. In the blink of an eye, Sasha had thrown together the grandest monstrosity of a sandwich he’d ever seen. She must’ve used literally _everything_ in the pantry, regardless of it’s intended purpose, and piled it up to form the towering behemoth standing before him now. Eren had severely underestimated her food-lust.

  
A jam jar was suddenly shoved in to his face. Eren inspected the poorly labelled container, finding it all too familiar. “Dunno,” He shrugged. “But it tastes good, goes well with cheese.”

  
Sasha was pleased with the find and smeared some on to her Frankenstein sandwich, then scooped up a sample with her finger and stuck it in her mouth. “Hmm…” She squinted and smacked her mouth a few times. “It’s some kinda chutney, a little sweet. I’m sensing… tomato, apple, and a hint of onion.”

  
“Wow.” Eren replied. That’s one mystery solved. He watched as Sasha started chipping away at the beastly sandwich. “So, what’s the deal with Mike? He strikes me as a unique kinda guy.”

  
“Mmhhmp,” Sasha swallowed loudly. “He’s great! Not really one for small-talk, but he’s passionate and works hard. He could always smell when I snuck food in to the lab though, so there were a few issues… but besides that, he’s cool to work with and took time to help us with anything we didn’t understand.” Sasha wiped her mouth with her sleeve, soiling the pristine white lab coat with orange chutney. “I miss our old place. I wasn’t there for very long... but it was starting to feel like home, you know. I don’t even know what happened to the others.”

  
Eren would probably feel the same if he was suddenly booted out. The sound of footsteps caught Eren’s attention, and he quickly shoved some things back in to the pantry before turning to face the door.

 

 

“Sasha?” Jean entered the kitchen and paused at scene he found there. Sasha had frozen mid-bite, a thick stream of chutney oozing down her chin, while Eren had his arms spread out across the pantry as if he was trying to cover something up. “What are you doing?”

  
“What the hell does it look like?” Eren replied and dropped his arms, relieved that they hadn’t just been snapped by someone important. “We’re having brunch.”

  
Jean crossed his arms. “It’s too late in the day for brunch.”

  
“It’s never too late for brunch.” Sasha said, clinging to her sandwich defensively. 

  
“Yes, it is. The proper time-frame to have brunch is between 10am and-”

  
“Oh my god, who cares!” Eren interrupted. “What do you want, horse-face?”

  
Jean frowned and glared at him. “Well, an apology would be a good start.”

  
“What for?”    

  
“Everything!” Jean said. “You’re supposed to tell your boss if you’re gonna take a day off, asshole. I just spent the whole morning getting shat on by Levi and doing your work!” Jean took a breath to calm himself down. “Watch out, Jaeger. He was in a real foul mood, keep it up and you’ll be out of a job in no time.”

  
Shit, that’s right. Eren was planning on just being a bit late and saying that he’d slept in, but it was well past midday now. _Shit._ “Whatever. If anyone’s getting kicked out of here, it’s gonna be you!”

  
“Oh really? Well I’m qualified, and you’re not. I show up when I’m supposed to, and you don’t.” Jean pulled out the smuggest grin in his arsenal. “And… I just _proved_ to Levi that I can do your job. To a higher quality as well, I reckon. He even thanked me for it.” Jean chuckled. “Don’t assume yourself safe, you could be looking at your new replacement.”

  
“Fuck you, Jean!” Eren clenched his fists. That couldn’t happen, right? Or, Levi wouldn’t let that happen… right?   

  
“No, fuck _you!_ ” Jean shouted back and pointed a finger at him. “I know it was you making those noises this morning, Jaeger! Think you’re pretty fuckin' funny, huh?!”

  
Eren scoffed and turned his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  
“The hell you don’t, I heard your stupid laugh!”

  
“Whatever, at least I don’t sound like a-” Eren stopped talking when a strange noise filled the room, glancing around in confusion until he found the source.

  
Sasha was sucking the chutney off her fingers, sticking them in her mouth one by one and pulling them out, producing a loud pop when they left her lips. She stopped and looked at them, the end of her pinky still in her mouth. “Whah?”

  
“Sasha!” Jean screeched. “Did you even wash your hands?!”

  
“Uhh…” She grinned and waggled her spit-covered fingers at him. “Yes?”

  
“Oh, good lord…”

 

 

“What’s going on in here?” Mikasa burst in the kitchen, eyes flying straight to Sasha’s glistening hands. “Ew!”

  
“Hey Mika,” Eren said, glad to finally have some proper back up in here. “Where’ve you been? I just went and picked Sasha up from your lab.”

  
She gave Sasha a disapproving look, then turned to Eren. “I was helping Erwin with the stock-take,” Mikasa took in the scenery, noticing the various items that had been pulled out of the pantry. “Are you guys having lunch?”

  
“Brunch…” Sasha whispered from the corner and wiped her hands on her lab coat.  

  
Eren looked at her and nodded. “Exactly.”

  
“It’s too late for brunch.”

  
“That’s what I said!” Jean cut in.

  
“Anyways… to catch you up,” Eren’s eyes went back to Mikasa. “Sasha and I are friends now,” He gestured at Sasha, who confirmed the statement with a nod and a lip-lick. “And Jean is my new arch-enemy.”

  
“I’m standing right here...”

  
“Shut up, Jean.”

  
“That’s cool,” Mikasa said. “It’s nice to have people around that aren’t old as fuck, we almost out-number them now.”

  
“Um…” Eren wasn’t sure what to say to that, he was pretty sure that Mikasa had included Levi in the _old as fuck_ category. Which was, to be frank, simply not true.

  
Sasha flapped her hands like a chicken trying to take flight. “Ooo, I know! We can have Hange on our team, since they have a young spirit!” She said. “Then we’ll be even, 6 to 6. And if Hange can convert their boyfriend to our side, we’ll have the power of majority!” Sasha’s expression darkened. “And then… we can crush them and seize control of the building.”

  
“Damn, girl.” Eren said. He’d have to add Sasha to his _do not fuck with them_ list.

  
Mikasa tilted her head. “Hange has a boyfriend?”

  
“I reckon,” Sasha replied with a sly smirk. “They’re totally with that lab-tech guy. What’s his name, again?”

  
“Moblit.” Eren said. “And yeah, I think so too. Even if they’re not dating, there’s definitely _something_ going on.”

  
“I never noticed.” Mikasa looked down, ashamed that she’d missed something that was obvious to everyone else… even the girl that’d only been here for a day.

  
Eren smiled at her. “Yeah, cause you’re oblivious to those kinds of things.” _And thank Sina for that._

  
Jean awkwardly stood to the side and listened to the conversation, as if he hadn’t just had a shouting match with Eren. Jean decided to hold his tongue for a while, since everyone else seemed to be friends with Jaeger and he didn’t want to become the outcast… plus, he thought that girl was pretty hot. “I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Jean,” He held his hand out to Mikasa. “And you are?”

  
She didn’t take it, and Eren answered instead. “This is Mikasa. She’s my sister.”

  
“What?!” Jean couldn’t believe it. That raven-haired beauty shared blood with… he looked at Eren with his mouth hanging open.

  
Eren already knew what that horse-faced asshole was thinking, and so decided not to let him in on the fact that they weren’t actually related. It’s none of his business, anyways.

  
“So… she’s not your girlfriend?” Sasha asked.

  
That felt like a loaded question. “No!” Eren put his hands up defensively. “I just said that she’s my sister, holy shit!”

 

Sasha shrugged as she nibbled on another biscuit. When she had stolen it, no one could tell you.  

 

 

The door swung open as Armin entered, his face dropping at the abundance of people milling around in the kitchen.

  
“Armin!” Eren greeted.

  
“Woah, thanks for invite guys.” Armin laughed and looked around at everyone. “Party in the kitchen, huh?”

  
“Yeap!” Sasha triumphantly held her biscuit in the air. “We’re having brun-”

  
“Don’t even fucking say it!” Jean interrupted, staring Sasha down until she went back to nibbling on her snack like a timid rabbit.  

  
“Um… okay.” Armin said as he eyed Jean up. “Eren, is this the guy you told me about before?”

  
“The douche?” Eren raised an eyebrow and gestured to equine in question. “Yes, this is he.”

  
Jean crossed his arms again. “You called me a douche?”

  
Eren opted to ignore the question. Because as far as he could tell, Jean wasn’t deaf. “Oh, where are my manners?” Eren smiled and started pointing as he spoke. “This is Horse-face and Sasha. Sasha, Horse-face, this is my best friend Armin.”

  
Armin rolled with it. “Nice to meet you, Sasha.” He smiled. “And you too, Horse-face.”

  
“I fucking hate you, Jaeger.”

  
“And I hate you more.” Eren quipped.  

  
Sasha pouted and dusted off her hands, sending cookie crumbs flying every which way. “Hate’s a strong word, guys...”

  
“Yeah,” Mikasa said. “That’s why we use it.”

 

 

The door flew open again and slammed into the wall, the loud thud making them all jump in fright and silencing their chatter. All heads collectively turned to towards the sound, the colour draining from their faces when they saw Levi standing there, and he did not look happy. 

  
“What the fuck is this?”

  
“Levi!” Eren squeaked and stood up straight, his butt cheeks clenching in anticipation.  

  
“Christ, you brats congregate like an intrusion of fucking cockroaches.” Levi said, then cringed at the revolting mental image he had accidentally given himself.  

  
Sasha's confusion made her brave enough to speak. “An intrusion?”

  
Armin turned his head to her. “That’s what a group of cockroaches is called, like a flock of sheep or a murmuration of starlings.”

  
“Or a murder or magpies.” Eren chirped, pretending that he didn’t see the seething glare Levi gave him for it.   

  
“Yeah, exactly.” Armin said. 

  
Jean hummed thoughtfully. “I thought it was called a tiding of magpies?”

  
“There are several correct terms,” Armin clarified. “Personal choice, really. I think murder sounds the best though, because of the alliteration.”

  
“Oh yeah, that’s true.” Jean nodded in agreement. “I've heard some pretty interesting ones, did you know that a group of owls is call-”

  
“Shut the fuck up!” Levi snapped, and everyone else yelped in response. “Kirstein, Blouse, do you think it’s wise to be messing around like this on your second day? We may have the available space, but it sure as fuck doesn’t need to be filled by your sorry asses.”

  
“Forgive me! It was an accident!” Sasha squealed and grabbed a paper bag off the bench, hesitantly holding it out to him. “Do you… want a biscuit?”

 

“No.” Levi frowned down at the meagre offering, then flicked his eyes back up to pin them all with his most blood-chilling look. “What I want… is for all of you to get the hell out of here, and I don’t mean a leisurely exit at your earliest convenience.” Levi flung his arm out to point at the door. “I want to see a fucking brat stampede of hauling ass! And if it doesn’t happen within the next five seconds, I’m going to shove a two-month-old breadstick down each and every one of your worthless tracheas!”

 

The group broke out in to a panicked frenzy of scampering feet, pushing and shoving each other in their haste to flee from the kitchen. There was a blockage in the door as Jean and Armin tried to run through it at the same time, but thankfully Armin was able to dislodge himself with some frantic wiggling.

 

The two ladies were hot on their heels, hightailing it out of the building and back towards the labs.  

 

 

Eren hesitated at the front door, mere steps away from the sweet promise of freedom. He wasn’t sure what to do... Eren felt he should talk to Levi and apologise for not showing up today, but he also wanted to avoid being suffocated to death by a stale baguette.

 

The decision was no longer his. Levi emerged from kitchen and was rapidly closing in, like a lion getting ready to pounce on a lone gazelle that had foolishly broken away from the herd.

 

Eren yelped and shot out a quick mental prayer to any deity that was currently available, backing away from Levi until his leg bumped into something that prevented further retreat. “H-hey, Levi. What’s up?”

  
“Oh, nothing really…” Levi replied as he closed the remaining gap, leaving only inches between him and his target. “I spent half the day waiting for my assistant to show up. And when he didn’t, I was forced to do most of his work.” He found Eren’s fidgety eyes. “In addition to my own, of course.”

  
“Oh…” Eren’s gaze darted around the room, and yup, there was no one here to save him. Levi was all up in his space, standing right in front of him and staring relentlessly. His gunmetal eyes were too intense for Eren to meet directly, so he opted for looking at Levi’s forehead instead and hoped that he wouldn’t notice. “I, um… lost track of time, sorry. Why didn’t you come find me sooner?”

  
Levi blinked slowly. “I’ve got better things to do than play hide and seek with you.”

  
“But… how did you know where I was?” Eren asked.

  
“I saw Arlert leaving the lab and followed him.” Levi said. “As predicted, he led me straight to the brat nest.”

_  
Damn it, Armin._ “But why did-”

  
“Stop asking questions.” Levi talked over him. “Instead, you should dedicate your horrifyingly low number of brain-cells to thinking about how you can make it up to me.”  

  
Eren prevented himself from saying the first thing that popped into his head, which was _“yes darling”_ , and went for something that wouldn’t result in him bleeding out on the floor. “I’ll clean until the sun comes up tomorrow?” Eren offered.

  
Levi hummed thoughtfully as his eyes flicked over Eren’s face. “Perhaps…” He leaned in closer, lowering his voice to whisper near Eren’s ear. “But I had something far less professional in mind.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no! How can Eren make Levi happy again?!
> 
> Just in case you're _dying_ to know, a group of owls is called a parliament.


	13. Familiar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is 57% smut.  
> Enjoy.

Eren’s mind started backtracking. He had definitely missed something.

 

The huskiness in Levi’s voice had been unmistakably suggestive, which was confusing because a second ago Eren thought that he was in trouble. Perhaps staring at Levi’s forehead hadn’t been the smartest idea. His face wasn’t exactly what you’d call expressive, but his eyes usually provided some insight into his emotions.

 

Since homicide didn’t seem to be on Levi’s agenda today, Eren allowed his gaze to slide down, past the pair of perfectly kempt black eyebrows and the faint crease that resided between them, to finally make contact with the smoky-grey irises staring back at him. Levi had very striking eyelashes; not particularly long per se, but incredibly dark. It was a strange feature to only now take notice of. The past two or three times they’d been in such close proximity, Eren either had his eyes closed or his attention focused elsewhere.

 

It felt somewhat strange to stand face to face with someone and just stare at them, but that was where Levi had placed himself. Eren considered taking a step back, and he was once again prevented from doing so by the edge of a coffee table bumping into his thigh. No matter, Eren didn’t really mind the closeness.

 

Deciding that he’d inspected Levi’s lashes thoroughly enough, Eren moved on, gazing directly into his eyes. He recognised the emotion clouding them, causing a penny to drop in Eren’s head. Levi hadn’t hunted him down because he was angry… Levi had come to find Eren because he was horny.

 

Or rather, a combination of both.

 

Levi raised a curious eyebrow. He’d been expecting a response of some description, but Eren was just staring back at him wide turquoise eyes. Was it appropriate for him to proposition Eren like this? He wasn’t entirely sure. Levi had been hanging back and waiting for Eren to initiate contact, as he was still concerned about applying pressure to the young man. He didn’t want Eren to feel obligated to do anything.

 

But honestly, Levi had expected that brat to show up at his room by now, and it was frustrating. Was he expecting a written invitation or some shit? Eren was still staring. While Levi hadn’t said anything too candid, he was sure that Eren had understood his meaning. “Oi, you conscious?”

 

Sometimes Eren wondered that, too. He blinked down at Levi, who looked like he was waiting for him to respond. Unable to remember what Levi had said exactly, Eren went for a general response. He raised his hand to brush his fingertips up Levi’s arm, changing the tone of his voice to sound flirty. “What do you want?”

 

Levi felt his body spike with interest, he wanted whatever Eren was willing to give. “I don’t care much for the specifics.”

 

Eren closed the short distance between them to connect their lips, making a short sound of surprise when Levi moved straight onto tongue. Yet again, no one was complaining. Two hands tangled in Eren’s already messy hair, holding him in place as Levi pushed further in, their tongues eagerly twisting together. Eren responded by wrapped his arms around Levi’s back, one hand moving up to rest on the back of his head. 

 

 

The thin wooden coffee table was suddenly an issue, Eren was sure that Levi was close to pushing him on to it. And, well… it would most likely break under their combined weight.

 _  
Shit_ , the coffee table. The furniture nudging against Eren’s leg was enough to remind him that they were currently making out in the middle of the main room. In broad daylight. Why does this always happen?

  
Guess that’s the price you pay for spontaneity.

 

 

They had no move. It wouldn’t be surprising if someone came back looking for him. But damn, the last thing Eren wanted to do was make awkward small talk for five minutes while they walked to one of their rooms.

 

Thinking something similar, Levi broke away from the kiss and headed towards the stairwell.

 

Eren quickly scoped out the room, confirming that it was still void of prying eyes, then went after him. He noticed that Levi hadn’t even checked that Eren was following him, although that wasn’t unusual. They both knew that he would.

 

Levi bypassed the stairs and went through a random door in the hall, Eren hurrying in behind him. Judging by the shelfs and various boxes stacked around the place, it was obviously a storeroom. The faint smell of old books was surprising pleasant. “Will we ever do this somewhere appropriate?” Eren joked.

 

Levi pushed the door shut and clicked the lock into place. “Fuck appropriate.” He wrapped an arm around Eren’s waist and pulled him close, joining their mouths again. Levi drew back slightly, nipping at Eren’s parted lips. “I cleaned this room recently, shame not to use it.”

 

Eren couldn’t argue with that. He did wonder, however, what Levi’s definition of _recently_ was. If his standards of cleanliness were anything to go by, Eren would guess that it was within the last twelve hours. At least they didn’t have to worry about getting dust on their clothes. Eren felt a little bit flattered, even though he knew Levi probably hadn’t planned this.

 

Who needs a maid when you have an impulsively cleaning insomniac?

 

Levi’s hand found the back of Eren’s neck, while he tilted his head to avoid bumping noses. Levi made a noise of appreciation when Eren sucked on his tongue. He had no idea who taught the brat to kiss, but Levi would like to thank them for it.

 

And then punch them in the face. Repeatedly.  

 

Eren reached up to cup Levi’s cheek, his other hand grabbing on to his shoulder blade. He pulled back to take air, running his teeth over Levi’s bottom lip before diving back in. The kiss escalated into a frantic mess, all co-ordination lost as they tried to get as much of each other as possible.

 

Wanting to take more initiative this time, Eren freed himself from Levi’s mouth and ducked down to get at his neck. He heard Levi take in an unsteady breath as Eren licked up his pale skin, stopping at his earlobe and sucking it into his mouth. Eren flicked at it with his tongue before letting it slide out between his teeth, then trailed wet kisses back down Levi’s neck. It seemed to have the desired effect; Levi was trying to use his hold around Eren’s waist to pull their hips together, albeit unsuccessfully due to the brunet’s hunched posture.

 

Eren’s shoulder suddenly bumped into a wall.

 

When did they move?

 

Whatever. Eren went back to his task. He sucked the skin of Levi’s neck into his mouth, enjoying the subtle saltiness and fresh earthy scent. Levi hummed and tilted his head to rest it against the wall, his chin raising up and to let Eren do as he pleased.

 

From their encounters thus far, Eren had been given the impression that Levi wasn’t opposed to a bit of rough treatment. Eren moved on to a patch on skin below the collar of his shirt, sucking harshly before biting down and pulling back to let it slide through his teeth. Levi gasped and tightened the grip on his waist, which Eren took as a positive response and went back to graze his teeth up Levi’s neck. Once he repeated it a few times, Eren moved back to kiss him again.

 

Levi’s met his tongue, urgently pushing deep into Eren’s mouth as he turned to rest his back against the wall. He pulled at Eren’s waist again, finally managed to press their erections together. Levi’s hands shifted lower, leaving Eren’s waist to grab his ass instead, and used the grip to rhythmically pull Eren against him.

 

Eren kept up with the pace, rolling his hips forward as Levi pulled him in. The kiss was broken off for breathing purposes, although Eren wasn’t sure how much oxygen he was getting by panting against Levi’s lips. He braved opening his eyes, finding himself captivated by Levi’s blissed out appearance. Eren slide a hand down to Levi’s cock and pressed his palm against it, watching as Levi’s lips parted to let a moan slip out. _Shit, he’s so hot_. Levi’s eyes cracked open to watch Eren from beneath his lids, expression foggy and heated. Eren swallowed and prayed that his voice would work. “Still don’t care for specifics?” It sounded a bit rough, but functional nonetheless.

 

Levi took a second to compose his thoughts, not bothered in the slightest that they were all of a sexual nature. That brat drove him fucking crazy, and whatever he’d been concerned about earlier was currently a non-issue. Levi replied in a gravelly voice. “Suck me off.”

 

Eren blushed profusely at the brazen request, even if it was a turn-on to hear Levi talk like that. Embarrassment aside, that was definitely something that Eren was interested in trying. He’d been on the receiving end a handful of times, so he had a pretty good idea of what he was supposed to do. Eren’s hands fumbled with Levi’s belt for a few seconds, until Levi intervened and quickly removed it himself. It landed at their feet, producing a metallic clink as the buckle made contact with the floor.

 

After a moments consideration, Eren had constructed some semblance of a game-plan in his head and leaned in to initiate another kiss. Levi reciprocated with ferocity as Eren stroked his erection through the clothing. Eren had less trouble with the button and fly, easily getting the front of Levi’s pants undone and pushed them down far enough for his hard cock to spring out. Eren wrapped a hand around it, giving it a few torturously slow strokes as he nibbled on Levi’s lip.

 

“Brat,” Levi warned, the hot puff of air tickling Eren’s lips.

 

A quick survey of the room revealed no furniture… oh well, they’ll make do. Levi put his weight on the wall as Eren made his way down south, eventually settling on his knees with his face at Levi’s crotch. He was getting lots of close-ups today. Eren swallowed nervously, the task seemed a lot more daunting now that he was face-to-face with it. Literally. Levi was pretty big, could Eren even fit that in his mouth? They’d know soon enough.

 

Eren continuing stroking Levi’s cock with his hand, while he poked his tongue out to lick at the tip. He ran the top of his tongue over the slit, then circled around the head and placed his parted lips on it. Feeling curious, Eren flicked his eyes up and saw that Levi was staring down at him with rapt attention.

 

Eren was feeling particularly evil this afternoon. He held eye contact while he made a show of licking along the underside of Levi’s cock, taking just the head in to his mouth and gently massaging his tongue over it, tasting the precum that was starting to leak out. The look on Levi’s face suggested that if they were slightly less civilised, he might’ve physically snarled.

 

“Stop fucking teasing me.” Levi pretty much did snarl. But it was short-lived, and the next thing he said came out much quieter, a needy whisper that Eren barely heard. “…please.”

 

Eren started taking Levi into his mouth, but he was met with a fair amount of resistance. He remembered Levi’s little trick and pulled off, spat into his hand and spread it over the shaft. The second attempt went much smoother, the wet skin of Levi’s cock gradually sliding into his mouth. Eren found that he could accommodate the girth, but he simply didn’t have enough space for the whole length. He put his hand at the base to make up for it, then started moving it in time with his head, a slow rhythm that earned him a few moans from above.

 

“Shit,” Levi cursed as he was swallowed by Eren’s hot mouth. He ran a hand through Eren’s hair, not caring at all when his fingers got caught in the knotty stands and simply left his hand there. Levi couldn’t pull his eyes away as Eren keep trying to take him deeper, the brunet’s glistening lips stretched taut around his cock. “That’s fucking perfect.”

 

Eren hummed in response to the praise, and the little gasp that followed indicated that Levi must’ve felt it. He placed his spare hand on Levi’s hip for support, adding more pressure as he steadily bobbed his head back forth along the length. Eren tried to add some flare with his tongue, swirling it around the tip before sinking back down onto Levi’s cock.

 

The grip on Eren’s hair tightened, Levi was finding it incredibly difficult to restrain himself from thrusting. He pushed back against the wall in an attempt to stop any involuntary movement. “Eren,” Levi rasped. “Fuck, that feels… so good, keep going.”

 

Things were starting to get a bit messy. Eren could feel saliva starting to drip down his chin, Levi’s precum would be mixed in there as well. It only amplified the obscene sucking and slurping noises coming from his mouth, but Eren was only listening to one thing. Levi’s vocalisations had escalated into a constant string of panting and breathless moans, and Eren wasn’t sure if it was for Levi’s benefit or because he was just that turned on, but he was moaning too.

 

“More,” The leisurely pace was driving him crazy, it wasn’t quite enough. Levi tugged on Eren’s hair, encouraging him to speed up and started rocking his hips. “Faster, go fucking faster.”

 

The sharp pull on his hair brought Eren back to reality, he’d gotten lost in what he was doing and zoned out. Eren allowed Levi to guide him into the fast pace he wanted and added a bit more suction.

 

Levi groaned, enjoying the view of Eren hungrily swallowing him up. “Fuck. Yeah, like that…”

 

Eren gagged as Levi hit the back of his throat, but he persevered. Eren cupped Levi’s balls with his free hand, humming around his cock and keeping the fast rhythm. A loud thud caught Eren’s attention. He glanced up to see that Levi had thrown his head back, presumably banging it against the wall in the process.

 

“God, I’m so close… don’t stop.” Levi pleaded, even though he was essentially controlling Eren’s movements at this point. Levi pulled him to go faster, feeling his cock slide into Eren’s wet heat a few more times before he tensed up and let out a loud moan. “Eren, c-coming, fuck!” Levi thrusted his hips forward, burying himself deep in Eren’s mouth as a powerful orgasm coursed through his body.

 

The warning was too late for Eren to do anything, not that knew what he would do. He gagged as Levi tugged on his hair and pushed into his throat, cock pulsing as he filled Eren’s mouth with streams of hot cum. Eren’s best efforts didn’t prevent some from spilling out over his lips. He focused on clearing his throat of the fluid, Levi’s sensitive cock twitching out the last of his release as Eren swallowed around it.

 

Eren could feel him beginning to go soft, which was admittedly a strange sensation to have in his mouth. He pulled off, trying to take most of the mess with him, producing a wet popping sound as the head slid past his lips. Eren looked up, once again enthralled by expression of Levi’s post-orgasm face.  

 

Levi focused on regaining his breath until his mind came back down to Earth, then glanced down at Eren, who was still on his knees with cum coated lips. That brat was fucking beautiful. Levi realised that he was still gripping onto Eren’s hair and untangled his fingers. “Sorry.” He apologised even though Eren didn’t seem to mind anything he’d done, then himself back into his pants.

 

Levi offered his hand down and helped Eren to his feet. He pulled Eren in for another kiss, running his tongue along the brunet’s lips to clean him up. Eren was shocked by it, while Levi simply shrugged and went about trailing soft kisses along his cheek. He reached down to grasp Eren’s erection and gave him a little smirk. “Should I do you now?”

 

Eren leaned into Levi’s hand and nodded eagerly, he was so fucking hard after that. Eren whipped his belt off, leaving it where it fell, then threw his arms around Levi’s neck and pressed their mouths together.

 

Levi pushed back, massaging their tongues together before pulling away and licking his lips. “Sit down,” He ordered, glancing over to a large crate nearby. “There.”

 

Wandering over to test it with his hand, Eren discovered that the wooden box felt sturdy enough to hold him. Levi appeared next to him again, hastily undoing Eren’s pants for him and shoving them down.

 

“Take them off.” Levi instructed, blunt and assertive.  

 

Eren didn’t know why that was necessary, but fuck if he was going to argue. Swallowing thickly, he realised that being bossed around by Levi seemed to turn him on even more.

 

One of his shoes was removed to get the pants off, figuring that that it would be acceptable to only take one leg out, and his underwear followed. Once that was taken care of, Levi gave him a _look_ and Eren instantly parked his ass down on the crate, eternally grateful that it didn’t cave in under him. The cardboard was only slightly cold on his bare skin. Levi positioned himself between Eren’s legs, shifting onto his knees and getting as comfortable as the situation allowed.

 

Levi took hold of Eren’s cock and began licking up it, getting it slick with his saliva. Eren gasped at the feeling, hand flying down to hold on to Levi’s hair. Not wasting any time, Levi ran his tongue up to the head and enveloped it between his lips, humming as he slowly sunk down.

 

Eren leaned back to get a better view of what was going on, watching eagerly as Levi’s pink lips started sliding up and down on his cock. He moaned and stroked his fingers through the inky black strands, noticing that the hair felt silky soft and well taken care of. No surprises there. 

 

Levi slid up the whole length and let it pop out of his mouth, then licked his lips as he looked up at Eren. “Lay back.”

 

An unintelligible grunt was all Eren could manage. He leaned back until he was laying flat on the wood, slightly upset that he couldn’t watch properly like this. Levi shifted around, lifting Eren’s bare leg and draping it over his shoulder.

 

Eren yelped in surprise when he felt something wet and warm teasing over his asshole, craning his neck to see what was going on down there. His curiosity must’ve been obvious, because Levi freed his mouth once more to talk.

 

“Just relax.”

 

That was all he said, and then Eren watched as Levi slowly sunk all the way down his length. Eren moaned and reclined back again, sure that Levi knew what he was doing, and tried not to tense up as the slick object gently pushed inside him. Going by the size, Eren guessed that it was a single finger, maybe a pinkie, but it was hard to tell. It was small enough that it didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t exactly comfortable. A strange sort of pressure… and Levi wasn’t doing anything with it either, just remaining still inside him.

 

Eren’s thoughts dissipated as Levi started a steady pace on his cock, the familiar wet sucking sounds filling the room once again. “Oh, yeah…” Eren moaned, resuming the petting of the Levi’s soft hair as he bobbed up and down, and his leg twitched as Levi swallowed around him. Eren vaguely registered some movement inside him, but it went largely ignored as he focused on the mouth surrounding him.

 

Until his body suddenly jerked with an involuntary squeak. The jolt taking him by surprise, Eren propped himself up on his free hand to inspect Levi’s face.

 

If he didn’t have a mouthful of cock, Levi would’ve been smirking like a pleased cat. He curled his finger to brush it over Eren’s prostate again, causing the brunet’s arm to give out as he flopped back down with a high-pitched moan, followed by a thud as he landed on the wood. A better response than expected. Levi continued sucking, starting to gently massage Eren’s prostate with the pad of his finger.

 

Eren squirmed around on the spot, unintentionally causing more friction inside him. “Fuck!” Whatever he was doing got more intense, the powerful sensation adding to the feeling of Levi sucking him off, and Eren was sure that his body was literally going to explode. Pleasure was tearing through his whole body and he couldn’t even tell where it was coming from, but it was quickly reducing him to a moaning mess. “Levi! Fuck, yeah… keep doing that. I can’t, I ca- ah!” His hand flailed out next to him, clawing at the crate as he tried to find purchase.

 

In hindsight, Levi probably should’ve stuffed a handkerchief or something in his mouth. He pulled off Eren’s cock to scold him. “Keep it down, brat.” The only response was a needy whimper, which Levi supposed was good enough. He sucked Eren back into his mouth, adding more pressure with his finger.

 

And Eren had officially checked out. His leg hooked around Levi’s neck to prevent him from pulling away again, and his hips started subconsciously pushing back against that wonderful, wonderful finger. “Oh god… fuck. Fuck, Levi. More… more, please-” Eren’s voice tapered off to a muddle of keening moans and pitchy whines, sounds he never knew he was capable of producing. No longer able to communicate, Eren tightened his leg, forcing Levi down further onto his cock. At that moment, he didn’t really give a shit if Levi needed to breath or not.

 

Both his hands grabbed onto Levi’s hair, clinging on for dear life as his vision whited out and his back arched up off the box. He might’ve screamed, he might’ve been silent, Eren hadn’t a clue. It felt as though the hair scrunched up in Eren’s hands was the only thing tethering him to reality during the long and intense orgasm, his body quivering with burning pleasure of as he shot thick loads of cum down Levi’s throat.

 

After a few aftershocks, Eren’s body relaxed and his hands dropped, allowing Levi to wiggle himself free from the suffocating death-lock. Eren stared at the ceiling, trying to catch his breath and figure out if he was still alive, while Levi coughed and made cute little grunts as he cleared his throat.

 

The sound of a racing heartbeat was enough to convince Eren that he hadn’t actually expired, but his pathetic attempt to sit up resulting in him flopping down onto his back once more. His arm raised to hold a hand out in front of him. What he was asking for, Eren didn’t know, perhaps some kind of assistance in his disorientated state. Someone took his hand, and he smiled like a goofball when Levi’s face appeared in front of him.

 

Levi trailed kisses from the corner of Eren’s mouth and up his jaw line, then made his way down the tan neck. Going back up to his lips, Levi hummed as he gave Eren a lazy open-mouthed kiss. He pulled back to hover just above Eren, touching the sides of their noses together. “Good?”

 _  
Good?_ Eren almost laughed, but instead he smiled and nuzzled against Levi’s nose. “Yeah,” He replied, and Levi pulled back to retrieve their odd articles of clothing. One shoe and two belts. “You’re amazing at sucking dick…” Eren’s face went red once the words left his mouth. His brain was in a weird place right now.

  
“I appreciate the compliment,” Levi said as he threaded his belt back through their loops, ignoring his deflating semi that had been trying to get up again while pleasuring Eren. “But I think my hand deserves most of the credit.”

  
“Yeah, sure.” Eren wasn’t really sure what Levi had done to him up there, but if it was what gave him that incredible orgasm, Levi’s hand _definitely_ deserved credit. Eren finally managed to stand up, trying to balance as he pulled his leg back through his pants. “You’re not mad at me, then?”

  
“Tch,” Levi tossed Eren’s belt over to him. “I’m still mad.”

  
Eren failed to catch the flying leather snake, it slipped straight through his fingers and landed at his feet with a thud. “Aw, what? How can you be angry after that?”

  
Levi’s belt clinked as he bucked it. “Church and State, brat”

  
“Huh?”

  
“Really?” The brat’s face said _yes, really._ Levi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I mean, professional is separated from personal.” He dropped his hand to stare at Eren. “You can suck my dick all you want, but I’ll treat you no different while we’re working.”

  
Eren hopped around on one foot until he finally managed to sort his pants out, then wiggled into his belt and odd shoe. “Should I test that?” Levi ignored the question, and Eren took a moment to check the surroundings for any evidence of their activities. He was pretty sure that he dribbled on the floor at some point… eh, must’ve already dried up. “Oh!” Looking at all these boxed had jogged his memory. “Moblit told me to tell you that your culture dishes arrived this morning. He said they’re on the second level.”

  
Levi blinked at him. If he didn’t feel so relaxed right now, he would be infuriated. “That information would’ve been useful four hours ago.”

  
“Yeah, well… sometimes you’ve just gotta have lemonade, you know? But behind that sugar there's only lies…” Eren shrugged dismissively. “Just another day in the office.”

  
“What?” Levi’s eyebrows furrowed. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  
“No idea,” He wiped his mouth again, just to be safe. “I think you might’ve melted my brain.”

  
“That is ridiculous,” Levi said. “Your brain was a useless puddle long before I came along.” He went over to the door and unlocked it, looking over his shoulder at Eren. “Ready?”

  
“Yup,” Eren smoothed out his shirt. “Oh, wait!” He bounced over to Levi, putting and hand on his cheek and planting a rapid onslaught of kisses on his lips.

  
Levi let him do it, forcing away the smile that was threatening to appear on his face. Eren eventually stopped pecking at his face like a pigeon in a breadcrumb frenzy. He raised an eyebrow at the peculiar display. Was that how young people kissed these days? How absurd.

  
“Now I’m ready.” Eren grinned and pushed the door open, confidently striding out in to the hall. He was pleased with how that turned out, and not just because of the mind-blowing orgasm. Levi had seemed more intimate that time. Or maybe he’d just been hallucinating whacky shit again, wouldn’t be surprising.

 

 

 

 

Eren walked out in to the main room, sighing loudly as Armin spotted him from the front door and started waving his arm in the air.  

 

“Hey!” Armin called out as Eren approached him, meeting up in the doorway. “Jean said you hadn’t come back to the lab yet, I was worried Levi might’ve murdered you or something.” Blue eyes suddenly went wide as he saw Levi walking up behind Eren. Hopefully he hadn’t heard that, or Armin would be next on the chopping block. “I mean… talked to you, haha…”

  
Levi stopped next to Eren and stared at the blonde coconut with unfathomable disinterest. “Didn’t I tell you to go back to work?”

  
“Actually, you told me to get out of the kitchen.” Armin replied, releasing a panicked squeak when the corners of Levi’s mouth curled down in annoyance. “I did go back! Hange said I could leave, there isn’t much for me to help with at the moment.” Thankfully, Armin knew how to keep his face straight while lying his sweet little ass off. His excuse wasn’t challenged, so Armin resumed his hunt for information. His eyes went back to Eren. “So, whatcha been doing?”

  
Eren fumbled. “I, um… well… we were, we-”

  
“Were trying to find my supplies,” Levi took over. As he said, a useless puddle of brain juice. Silver eyes flicked over to Eren, telepathically ordering him to shut up or die, although he should already know that by now. “This shithead only just remembered to tell me.”

  
“Oh…” Armin looked at him sympathetically, then his face lit up with recognition. “Wait! Moblit said they were already downstairs. That’s why you can’t find them, Eren must’ve forgotten that part...”

  
“Christ,” Levi said, meeting the shiny turquoise eyes that were gawking at him. “Good fucking job, brat.”

 

Eren frowned, watching as Levi shook his head in feigned disappointment. Seriously, why did he always get the blame?

 

At least one of them was adept at pulling cover-stories out of their asses.

 

Did Eren enjoy lying to his friends? Of course not, even if it was weirdly exciting, but he knew they’d just give him shit about it. What would he tell them, anyways? That they occasionally get each other off in storerooms? Yeah, no thanks. Besides, Eren had no idea what the regulations were about this sort of thing, but he suspected that Levi could get in a considerable amount of trouble. If not for his age, then the fact that Levi’s technically his superior.     

 

Levi wanted to avoid being subjected to any further conversation with bratty and brattier. He made a break for it while they were distracted by each other, slowly walking back and then slipping out the door. Not that he needed to be sneaky around those dumbasses.

 

This was slightly awkward. Eren glanced to the side, realising that Levi had disappeared and left him without any back-up. _Traitor_. He looked back at Armin, who had started to giggle for some reason.

  
“I’m honestly surprised that you’re still alive, Eren.”

  
“Yeah, me too.” That wasn’t a lie. Eren smiled at his friend, but it quickly faded as his number-one nemesis popped his head into the room. That’s right folks, the pony club had arrived.

  
“Damn,” Jean said, his eyes flittering over Eren’s face. “I was hoping you’d have a black-eye… did Levi at least choke you with a breadstick?”

  
“Of course not.” Well… not with a breadstick, anyways _._ How would Jean have reacted if he’d actually said that? Eren started snickering to himself, imagining the hilarious face he’d pull. 

  
“I can’t believe you got caught. Don’t you even know how to run?” He glanced down Eren’s body. “Or did you Eat too many biscuits?”   

  
“That’s right, Jean. You won the cross-country event, congrats.” Eren droned and rolled his eyes. “But I bet you’ll cake-it in dressage.”

  
“What the hell?” It took Jean a solid ten seconds to figure out what that meant. “I’d still beat you, Jaeger.”

  
Eren scoffed in his face. “You wish, my capriole is on-point.”

  
“Your what?” Jean now had no idea what they were talking about. He hadn’t really known before either, he just hadn’t wanted to give Eren the last word, but this was long past being ridiculous. “Whatever. This is waste of time, I just wanted to see if you’d gotten beaten up.” Jean waved his hand dismissively and made a U-turn, gracelessly trotting off into the distance.  

 

Eren glared at his retreating back, annoyed that Jean had left before he could make a retort. But it still felt like a victory. It’s fortunate that Eren knows so many random facts about horses, and he 100% did not find a book on the topic just to mess with Jean.

 

Blame Erwin for collecting equestrian literature.

 

“You’re right, by the way.” Armin said, watching Jean disappear from view with a distasteful expression. “He is a douche.”

  
Eren reined in his eye daggers and turned to the blonde. “You’ve only just noticed?”

  
Armin’s shoulders twitched in a lazy shrug. It wasn’t polite to judge someone straight off the bat, but the evidence was mounting up. “He called you fat.”

  
“He did?!” Eren gasped, face twisting in annoyance as his friend confirmed with a nod. The audacity. “I can’t believe I have to see him every day!” He threw his hands up with a drawn-out groan. Why couldn’t they have gotten Sasha instead? Her inability to resist all things edible would eventually become irksome, but at least she didn’t make Eren want to tear someone’s limbs off. “Did Hange really tell you to leave?”

  
“No,” Armin stared down at his hands, awkwardly rubbing them together. “I didn’t really go back… I hid in a supply closet for a while, ran into Jean, then came looking for you.” His eyes timidly raised back up to Eren. “Think they’ll be mad?”

  
Eren sucked on his cheek as he thought about it. Was Hange even capable of getting mad? They’re a blindingly bright lump of sunshine… but they’re also certifiably insane, so it’s a hard call. It seemed like it would take a lot of piss them off, but if you managed it, they would probably implode and release a hellfire the likes of which this world had never seen. “I don’t know… probably not.” He shrugged, glad that he didn’t have to worry about his own well-being. Levi’s temper had been placated, for now... there was no telling how long that’d last. A sudden squawking caught Eren’s attention, glancing outside to see two sparrows having an altercation on a tree branch. His gaze remained there as he spoke. “Talked to Mike much?”

  
The scrapping birds had attracted Armin’s eyes as well, but they blinked back to Eren at the question. “Not really, he just does his work and doesn’t say much. Why?”

  
“No reason,” Eren replied, a little disappointed when his distraction flew off with a series of wing-beats. “I’ve gotten to know Jean and Sasha a bit, but not him…” Teal eyes remained on the now empty tree canopy, it was preferable that Armin couldn’t see his face. “I’m curious about his relationship with Levi.”

  
“He already told you about that, remember? They worked together when Levi first got into science, it sounded like Mike was his mentor or something.” Armin reminded with a subtle frown. “Are you feeling okay? Your memory is horrendous today.”

  
“Yeah, just… long day.” Eren sighed. Of course, Armin wouldn’t know what he’d meant. Why had he mentioned it? It only served to make him look nosy and even stupider than before. A part of him wanted to seek his friend’s advice, he realised. That’s not surprising, Armin was the brain-box of their little group, Eren naturally looked to him for a logical opinion. It kinda sucked having to figure this out by himself. 

  
A brief hum came from Armin. “We should get back.” As Eren nodded and followed slightly behind him, Armin wondered what was bothering the brunet. He’d been much happier than usual over the past week or so, but there were also occasional bouts of gloominess. Armin let the thought drift away for now, glancing up at the fluffy white clouds as they walked back towards the lab building. “Why don’t you and Jean like each other?” He smiled. “Hate at first sight?”

  
“He wasn’t exactly polite when we met,” Eren said, the irritation clear in his voice. “Condescending, actually. Everything he says is shitty… and just before, in the kitchen, he was saying how Levi is gonna replace me with him.”

  
“Oh,” Armin voice pitched up, both surprised and offended. “That’s nonsense. Jean isn’t here to be an assistant, he was just trying to rile you up.” That must be what had Eren feeling down, douche suddenly sounded like an understatement. Armin gave him a comforting smile. “Besides, Levi seems to like you.”

  
“Really?” Eren could hear his heartbeat again, an insistent thumping in his head. Levi was obviously _fond_ of him in some way, but Eren hadn’t noticed anything that indicated that while they were around others. “What makes you think that?”

  
“It’s nothing really…”

  
“Armin!”

  
The blonde sighed and rolled his eyes. “I don’t know. He just looks at you differently, I guess.” Armin paused, finding it difficult to explain. “It’s… softer,” His mouth quirked, that word didn’t really feel right considering who they were talking about, so he tried again. “He looks at you with less distain than usual.” _That’s better._ Armin casually gestured with his hand. “I dunno, you guys have been talking more recently. It’s probably just familiarity.”

 

Wow, Armin was helpful even when he had no fucking clue what was going on. Eren hadn’t really been given any hints about what Levi was feeling, except for when they were being intimate, but those situations could be misleading. There was also the fact that Levi said that he liked him… but once again, Eren didn’t want to assume what he’d meant by that.

 

What did Eren want it to mean? In retrospect, he probably should’ve thought about that beforehand. He definitely liked Levi as a person, and he wanted Levi to like him in that way too. They had accidentally fallen into the vague realm of “friends with benefits”, but Eren found that he didn’t want to stay there. He wanted to get _much_ more familiar with Levi. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reference from The Wombats cause why not.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be announcing updates on tumblr, feel free to ask any questions or talk to me!  
> [fluffyboots](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/fluffyboots)


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